Free Fall
by Twisted Romancer
Summary: One evening. One apartment. Three people in free fall. - Chapter 10, which ends with BFF, Y/H the other Y/H, Y/Y or the OT3 route.
1. Chapter 1 - Love Letter

**Free Fall**

 **Chapter 1: Love Letter**

"So what did you tell her anyway?" Hachiman asked.

"That I need to discuss something with her. Concerning you and me," Yukino answered.

They were sitting diagonally across a table in Yukino's apartment, on a Saturday late afternoon.

"The difference between a lie and a truth told only to deceive..." Hachiman began.

"I've also told her that it's urgent," she went on, interrupting whatever his snide comment would have been.

"Which is true. Well, you decided that it is urgent, at least."

"This wasn't just a mayor embarrassment. I would never have expected something like this. Not from her."

"Not from her, huh?" Hachiman mumbled.

"I'm not willing to wait until Monday to discuss this issue. And school is not the place to do that in any case, inside or outside of the clubroom."

Hachiman did not comment. They had been over that before.

"Did you tell her that I would be here too?" he asked on.

"Not directly. No."

"I'd still rather not get involved in this."

But they had been over that one before, too.

"And her 'illness'?" he wanted to know.

"She said she was feeling better already."

"Which isn't really surprising." The sarcasm was dripping.

They stayed silent for a while.

"Can I see that love letter again?" Yukino finally asked.

"It's not directly a..."

"We both understood it that way, didn't we? Please."

Hachiman stood up and went for this jacket. He returned with a sheet of paper and wordlessly handed it over.

It was the second time Yukino read the short text. This time, she tried to keep a somewhat more professional distance before giving her final verdict.

"This doesn't look like my handwriting. Not a bad attempt however, I admit. But also not the words I would choose." A brief panic attack, as she wished she had put that last sentence a bit differently. Hachiman didn't seem to notice, though. She handed the letter back to him.

"Well, it was good enough to fool me," he regretted.

"She must actually have practiced it."

"The tickets," Hachiman mused. "In retrospect, the tombola was a lie, I guess?"

"I would think so."

"They certainly weren't cheap," he went on. "Three of them. Or two at least. I've never seen the third one."

"The question is," Yukino asked, "why would she do all that?"

"Shouldn't you ask her that?"

"I want to hear your assessment first."

Hachiman leaned back in his seat and ran his hand over his hair. He looked uncomfortable. "To hook us up," he said after a short pause, "is the most straightforward explanation."

"But... why? And her, of all people? You know that she's..." She trailed off.

"Yes," he concluded her thought. "We both know."

"Also, life is not a comedy of misunderstandings. She must have known you'd mention that letter eventually. And the truth would come out."

He uttered a brief laugh. "I pondered about it yesterday night. To just pretend it didn't exist."

"If you really believed it was real then that wouldn't have been fair."

"It wouldn't have been fair. It would have been safe. And the problem now wouldn't exist if I had been less fair."

"Do you actually believe that?"

No answer.

"Any other ideas what she was planning?" Yukino went on.

"Except to hook us up? The opposite. Drive us apart."

"Has she, Hikigaya?"

"Tried to drive us apart?"

"Has she driven us apart?" Yukino clarified.

Hachiman hesitated. "It wasn't my intention to let that happen," he finally said. "I'd gotten used to the club as it was," he added after another couple of seconds.

"Yes," was her only reply.

"Okay," he quickly went on, "let's say, it wasn't Yuigahama. Somebody else did it. A prank. A mean prank."

"The convenient timing? Our trip today was even mentioned in that letter."

"It's not as if it was a secret. Somebody in class might have overheard her talking about it."

"And that somebody practiced to fake my handwriting just to play a prank? And her sudden illness? An upset stomach? Why? What are they feeding her for dinner at home?"

"When she said that I thought it was, how should I say, a code word for, I mean..."

Yukino was confused for a second. "What? Oh. No, no, no. Today? Unlikely."

"How would you know?"

"Of course I know,"she snapped.

"Oh. Okay."

"Just ask your sister if she knows her best friend's, well, timing. She will."

"That sounds like a reasonable conversation starter at the dinner table," Hachiman deadpanned.

For the first time in hours Yukino lightened up, had to fight hard to suppress a laughter even. She was thankful. "In any case, you don't really believe it was somebody else."

"It is possible, isn't it. If we three agree it wasn't Yuigahama then somebody else must have done it, right?"

Yukino decoded his message and thought about it. "I will at least keep that possibility in mind, Hikigaya," she then promised. " _If_ we can all agree on it."

Another period of silence followed in which Yukino suddenly noticed the mainly empty table between them. "I haven't even offered you something..."

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

"Hikigaya," Yukino said as she stood up, "I don't want the club to change either. We finally had achieved some kind of... call it stability."

"I understand," he just answered.

"Yuigahama and I have become very close."

"I know."

"Her friendship is most important to me. I want to salvage it, at almost any cost. But I don't think a 'safe' solution is the way to go in this case. I feel like she stabbed me in the back or tried to push me off a cliff. But maybe there's something I just don't understand. No, that at least is a given. But however it might be, the next steps depend on her."

"I understand," he repeated.

Author's Notes

1\. You might have read "romance" in the title and are now asking yourself the obvious question. Or maybe you don't because I've already introduced Yui as the villain of the story, right? Wrong. This is not a hate fic. And there is no villain in this story (even though "Villain" will be most likely the title of the next chapter). If anything, there might be three villains. Please bear with me. I won't spoil this story by revealing a pairing here. In fact, I can't even promise that there will be a romantic conclusion at all. All I can promise is that the story won't end in heartbreak and lots of girlish tears. Nor with Hachiman's throat being slit open with a kitchen knife. Or something like that. It might get kinda dark in a way you (hopefully) won't expect, though.

2\. This story takes place mostly in the living room of Yukino's apartment. Although there will also be scenes in exotic locations like the kitchen. Or the Himalayas. The Himalayas may be a joke. The kitchen at least isn't. Expect a lot of talking heads in any case.

3\. As a first draft, the story is already complete. I might add or remove some lines, but overall nothing drastic will change. It's unlikely that this will end as an abandoned fic.

4\. Finally, this is rated M for a reason.


	2. Chapter 2 - Villain

**Chapter 2: Villain**

Yukino welcomed a smiling Yui at the apartment door and led her into the living room. She briefly considered inquiring about her friend's health but then decided against it. Forcing Yui to lie as an opening move wouldn't bode well for the talk they needed to have.

It was hard to decide if Hachiman's presence came as a surprise to Yui. Her only reaction was an even broader smile and a cheerful greeting.

Hachiman just nodded.

Yukino returned to the couch and patted the place beside her. "Please sit down." Yui obeyed.

Yukino came right to the point. She looked at Hachiman. "Could you please show us that letter?"

Still keeping silent, Hachiman put the letter on the table. He then sat back and tried his best to make himself invisible.

"It looks as if somebody has played us a prank..." Yukino began.

"Not somebody, of course," Yui just said.

"What do you mean?"

"I did that. You figured that out, right?" Yukino and Hachiman exchanged a glance.

"Yuigahama, why?"

Yui's smile changed from broad to shy. "I thought you two might need some encouragement. A lot of encouragement, actually."

"Encouragement," Yukino echoed. "He..."

"I turned her down." It was the first time since Yui's arrival that Hachiman spoke up.

Yui's constant smile wavered, if only just a little. "I don't think that's what you really want, Hikki."

"I don't think you understand what people want," he retorted.

"Oh, Hikki. You aren't 'people' to me. Of course I can tell."

"He really tried not to upset me when he declined," Yukino explained. "He was very indirect."

"Yeah, I can imagine that..."

"So indirect, that for minutes, I didn't even comprehend what he was talking about... and when I finally understood, I still didn't understand _why_ he was talking about it. It was so embarrassing."

"Oh, Yukinon..."

Yukino interrupted her. "Why would you put me through that? Why would you do that to me, why you?" she asked, clearly beginning to lose her composure. "Please explain."

"Yukinon, but there is no reason for you to be embarrassed."

"Why would you say that?"

"You didn't do anything. I did it." She was still smiling.

"You..." Yukino stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. "Yuigahama, I can't believe that you simply don't comprehend what you have done. I want to understand why you did it and what you were planning. If you want to help me, please stop spouting cheerful one-liners and explain yourself."

Finally, Yui's smile vanished and was replaced by a frown. "What do you want me to explain? I already admitted what I did. I helped you where you are to afraid to act. I did this for you. For _you_. _For_ you. Stop acting as if I did something _to_ you."

"Yuigahama, your explanations make no sense at all. Do you really think, we wouldn't find out who wrote that letter? Do you think I couldn't act for myself if I wanted?" Yukino stopped for a second. When she started speaking again, her voice had become ice cold. "You are my friend. Ask me. Advice me. Even encourage me. But never try to manipulate me into anything. Never, you hear?" Her voice became normal again. "And why would you want to help me there, you of all people?"

"When I'm in love with Hikki, you mean."

Yukino let out a sigh. Hachiman grunted something unintelligible.

Yui looked from one to the other. "As if you wouldn't know," she mumbled.

Hachiman stared at the table. "I know," was his monotone reply.

"We both know," Yukino added, noticing that she was echoing Hachiman's remark from earlier.

"So what's the problem?"

"What are you, a grade schooler?"

"Yukinon, do you remember the first thing I admired in you? You were so honest. I'm just tying to be honest. So you will believe me."

"No, I don't remember. There are situations that ask for honesty, and situations that don't. And people grow up."

"Well, I love him. Tell me why I shouldn't say it." Defiance in Yui's voice.

Yukino bolted up. "Because we three had an arrangement," she shouted. "The club still exists because of the arrangement we had!"

"... and you love Hikki too."

Yukino froze, then after a second collapsed back into her seat again. "You're wrong, Yuigahama," she replied after a while. "It's just... not that simple."

Yui's eyes widened. "That's laughable. How can you just pretend that you don't?"

"It's the truth."

"Do you say that because he just rejected you? Or are you trying to be considerate, Yukinon?"

"That's not it." Almost a hiss. Again, softer: "That's not it. It... it's not the point. You haven't answered my question. Why? Since you love Hikigaya, why would you give him up so easily?"

Hachiman was now staring intensely at the fighting girls.

"What does it matter? I'm giving him to you!" Yui shouted.

"And I wasn't asking for it!" Yukino shouted back.

"Please don't talk about me as if I'm not even in the room!" Hachiman interjected angrily.

Yukino ignored him. "Are you even giving up? Did you think if you forced him to reject your imagined rival you'd have a free run at the goal?"

"Yeah, maybe that's it!" Yui hit back. "But why would my 'imagined' rival even care?"

Yukino didn't answer. Deep anger was now clearly written onto her face.

"I'll better be going," Yui declared after a few seconds of silence. She rose from her seat.

"Yes," Yukino mumbled, "maybe that's for the best after all."

"I might not be coming to the club for a while."

"I understand."

"You aren't going anywhere," Hachiman suddenly demanded. "I'm sick and tired listening to you two. But you're gonna stay, Yuigahama. You sit and listen to _me_."

Yui reluctantly sat down again. Both girls looked at him.

"I am not," Hachiman continued, emphasizing every word, "some trophy or item for negotiation. I am a person and make my own decisions. What the _hell_ are you thinking? That I'm just waiting here patiently, ready to jump on whatever girl opens her legs first?"

Yui drew a sharp breath.

"That was uncalled for. Don't speak that way to Yui," Yukino said coldly. "You better..." She stopped when she suddenly felt Yui's hand on her arm, squeezing it.

"I think you two don't even remotely understand what love means. Stop talking about it until you do," Hachiman went on.

"Thank you Hikki," Yui declared overly friendly. "I'll be leaving you two alone now." She stood up. Hachiman jumped from his seat and blocked her way.

"Sit down. I'm not done."

"Hikki, it's really for the better."

Hachiman only stepped closer. "Tell me: what do you think I want? Just sex? Or is it all that _you_ want? Then maybe you should just have told me."

Yui just shook her head. "Hikigaya Hachiman, stop it. I'm not that stupid."

"Oh, there is nothing stupid about sex, you know."

She shook her head again and attempted to sidestep him. "You know that's not what I'm talking..."

Hachiman grabbed her shoulders and violently kissed her.

Author's Notes

… and then the two had angry sex on the couch until Yukino stabbed them with a kitchen knife. The End.

Well, no. This is probably not what will happen next.

"Author, what the hell are you doing? This is completely out of character." Patience. Bear with me. Some explanation for what just happened will follow in the next chapter already.

This was probably the most M rating worthy chapter. Sex will become a topic of conversation again but in a much more roundabout way than here.


	3. Chapter 3 - Reveal

**Chapter 3: Reveal**

"Well?" he asked as he broke the kiss a second later.

"That went way too far. Stop that act immediately." Yukino hissed.

Yui silenced her with a gesture. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She bit her lip and angrily wiped her arm over her face.

"And now?" she just asked Hachiman tonelessly.

"Now what?" Hachiman asked back.

"I don't know," she mumbled, "you need to unbutton my shirt, or something..."

Hachiman looked straight into her eyes. "I am not joking."

Fresh tears were glistering in those eyes, but she stood her ground and looked back at him. "No," she just said, "not joking."

They stared at each other in silence.

"Give it up, Hikigaya," Yukino finally broke the stalemate. "It's obvious that you can't win this anymore."

"Why did you do that?" Yui asked, still fighting her tears. "I was already on my way out."

He broke eye contact with her and turned away. "I'll be going."

"You aren't going anywhere!" Yui shouted.

Yukino had a feeling of déjà-vu. And then suddenly an epiphany.

"It's not as if you can stop me," Hachiman just replied.

Yui collapsed back into her seat. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I'm angry, Hikki, much more than you can imagine," she mumbled.

"I understand." he just replied as he went for the door.

"But I don't hate you," Yui continued, raising her voice. "I love you, you hear? I thought I'd never have the courage to say it. But now, every time I say it, it becomes easier to say. Just run away, I'll tell you again on Monday in class then. I'm not gonna let you have what you want. I won't hate you. Neither will Yukinon, I'm sure about it."

Hachiman stopped and slowly turned around.

"Why are you so bent on destroying the club," Yukino mumbled. It wasn't clear if she meant Yui, Hachiman, or both.

Yui shook her head. "I don't want to destroy anything. Just change it. I just want you to be happy. Because I love you too, Yukinon." She sounded desperate.

"I'd really appreciate it if you stopped throwing around the word 'love' so nonchalantly." Yukino retorted.

Yui dropped her head onto her knees, falling silent.

Yukino looked at Hachiman. "And you? Why you? And before you answer: Do not even dare to think we haven't looked through your maneuver. Stop acting. Just tell me the reason."

"You gave me a request."

Yukino was perplexed. "I did what?"

"… most important to me...," he reminded her. "… salvage at almost any cost..."

Yukino remembered. "That's it? I make a side remark and you immediately send your public face on a suicide mission again?"

"We're not exactly in public."

"No, it's worse," Yui spoke up, her face hidden behind her knees. "I'd never have believed you'd try and pull this against Yukinon and me. With others, yes. But not among the three of us."

Yukino sighed. "Hikigaya, the _club_ is important to me. Yuigahama is important because she's part of this club. And _you_ are part of this club. Is that too difficult to understand?"

"The club is dying on us," was his brutal reply. "Didn't you say you felt like being pushed off a cliff? Truth is, we're all in free fall by now and heading for a crash. I just offered you a way to cut your losses before that happens."

There was a long silence.

"Hikki, I have been dreaming about having my first kiss with you," Yui said. "That wouldn't surprise you, I guess?"

"I am sorry," he monotoned.

"But not like that." She stood up. "Can I finally go now?"

"Yuigahama. Don't. Just stop that act. This is not like you. Explain yourself. Please," Yukino pleaded.

Yui went for the door. "Fix what you've done to her," she ordered Hachiman.

"Hikigaya. Stop her."

"How..."

" _Stop her_ _._ "

Hachiman drew a breath and bowed formally. "Yuigahama, please listen to Yukinoshita. I wanted..."

"I know what you wanted."

"What do you want me to do then?"

"I told you already. Fix that. You owe her a kiss now, I'd say? That's a goal you could work on. Starting today."

"Stop that," Yukino snapped. "Yuigahama, I assure you: If any of you walks through that door now, there cannot be a club anymore. And no you and me. No me and him. Do you understand that? Do you want that?" She sighed. "Please don't do that to me."

Yui gave her a sad look. "But me and him?"

"Pardon?" Yukino was confused.

"No you and me. No you and him. But me and him?"

"Can we talk about that another time?"

Yui turned to Hachiman and approached him. Only centimeters away from him, she stopped.

"Do you want to hit me, Yuigahama? Would that help?"

"I want you to fix my first kiss. do it and I stay."

His eyes widened as he understood. He turned his head away. "That's not happening."

"It just happened."

"That's not the same."

"Why not?" "Yuigahama."

He turned his face back to her again. "Don't play stupid."

"Hikki," she answered softly. "If Yukinon doesn't want her relationship fixed then fix my first kiss. You can't undo it. So fix it."

He noticed her scent. Her shampoo or perfume perhaps? Probably a combination of both and her natural body scent. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation, just the scent he had learned to associate with Yuigahama over time. They had been physically close often enough. That sensation didn't make it any easier for him to give her his answer.

"I'm not in love with you. I can't give you what you want. I am sorry." He gave Yukino a pleading look.

"Yuigahama," Yukino said with a stern voice. "I don't like you to pressure him like that. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Yui slowly retracted from Hachiman. "Maybe." She sat down again.

"You're doing this just to make me jealous? I guessed it. How manipulative can you be?"

Yui shook her head "Would you like to kiss Hikki?"

"Excuse me?"

"It would only be fair, I guess? Do anything! At least talk to me!"

"Yui, I talked to you. I said that I'm not in love with Hikigaya..."

"You said 'It's not that simple'..."

"... and he rejected me when he thought I had written him a love letter. What is it you don't understand about it? When will these facts finally find their way into your head? You're getting more erratic and desperate by the second. Come to your senses and face what you did."

"What is not simple, Yukinon?" Yui insisted.

"Yuigahama,"Hachiman interrupted calmly. "Stop it. I'm not in love with Yukinoshita."

"Yukinon is smart, Hikki. She's so beautiful."

Yukino winced. "Yuigahama, just..."

"Yes," Hachiman answered quietly. Just that word, stopping Yukino in mid-sentence. "Still."

"Is it somebody else you like then? Something one-sided you keep hiding?"

"There is nobody else," Hachiman insisted.

"Hikki, then why? Don't tell me you don't care about Yukinon, that would be a lie! Is it your pride?"

He sat down again and looked at his hands. "Yuigahama, I... I care about Yukinoshita. Which doesn't mean I don't care about you..."

"Hikki, you see, if you choose Yukinon, it's fine. Really. I know I can't have everything. But I will remain both of your friend, if that's what you are afraid of. It's a promise. But I will not allow you to pretend there is nothing between the three of us."

"Are we talking to a wall?" he asked. "Why do you insist to drag things on the table but then don't accept our answers? What do you want from me? 'Choose this girl, choose that girl, or is there someone else you choose instead?' You don't _choose_ to be in love with someone." He looked at Yukino. "I am sorry. When you're in love with a girl, you're in love with her. You don't weigh options and then pick. That's how you know that it's…"

"... that it's real? You finally understood what you meant back then?" Yukino asked quietly.

Hachiman looked at her, surprised and confused. "I… Maybe. That's probably what I meant." he mumbled. He looked at Yui again. "Yuigahama, I was content with what we finally had achieved in the club. And what we not had. Have I made myself clear now? Can we move on from that point?"

"But you were looking for something real."

"So maybe I won't find it in the club. What did I tell you about the real thing?"

"Then maybe... if you don't weigh your options, Hikki?"

"I wasn't! I just told you so! You were the one insisting on it! You're not making sense at all!"

Yui just smiled a sad smile.

"Yui, I was content with what we had in the club, too," Yukino tried. "Can't we just forget about today and go back to being friends?"

"That's not true. You weren't. I could tell. And when was the time we three were just friends?"

"Well..." Hachiman said. "At least the two of you were friends."

"My relationship with Yuigahama isn't that simple either, I'm afraid." Yukino muttered.

Yui gave her a quick side glance Hachiman couldn't quite interpret. Was it fear?

"Yukinon, you still haven't told us what's so complicated. With Hikki, I mean. With Hikki."

"I told you everything that matters here."

"Yukinon, just give me some truth. Something I can believe. Not just 'I don't love him.' and 'It's not simple.' Then I will shut up about it. I promise."

"I have feelings for Hikigaya," Yukino finally said. She looked up and faced him. "I have feelings for you. You know it." She turned to Yui. "Could you just accept that? Sometimes things really aren't that simple. Will you just stay my friend and stop asking?"

Yui put an arm around her. "I don't understand you. And I can see you're not happy. I will always be your friend, as long as you want me to. I promised it before. I love you." "

Yuigahama, please stop throwing that word around so lightly. And indiscriminately. Just stop."

A long silence.

"No," Yui finally just said. She stood up.

Yukino just looked up to her, questioning.

Yui placed her knees on the couch, left and right of Yukino, and her hands on Yukino's shoulders.

"You're too close," Yukino protested.

Yui looked her straight into the eyes. "Yes," she whispered.

Then she kissed Yukino.

The kiss was short and chaste. The message, however, was clear.

"I'm not throwing the word 'love' around lightly," Yui said when she broke the kiss, still staring into Yukino widened eyes. "I'm not." She returned to her place on the couch, facing away from Yukino.

"But I will always be your friend, as long as you want me to," she repeated.

Yukino slowly rose from her seat. "Excuse me for a second." She left for the door, mumbling something that sounded like "toilet".

Hachiman looked very tired. "Yuigahama, could you just… find a role model other than me?"

"Do... do you think she's okay?"

" _You_ are asking _me_?"

"I'll better go look for her..."

"You will not."

Yui froze.

Hachiman sighed. "I'll go."

o o o

"Yukinoshita?"

No answer from behind the bathroom door.

"I will wait here."

For a few seconds there was no reaction, but then Hachiman heard the door being unlocked.

"There is no need, Hikigaya." Yukino said.

She saw him studying her face.

"I'm not crying."

"Do you want..."

"Just leave me alone for ten minutes. In ten minutes I'll be back, is that acceptable?"

He nodded.

Yukino closed and locked the door again.

o o o

"Is she okay?" Yui asked back in the living room.

"She said she'll be back in ten minutes." He looked sternly at Yui. "When she's back I'd prefer if you excused yourself and left."

"Hikki..."

"You leave. I will see if she's okay. That's what you wanted anyway, right?"

New tears welled up. "Thank you, Hikki."

"But you will promise her to be in the club on Monday. Then we'll talk things through again. We will both promise her that."

They waited in silence for Yukino's return.

Author's Notes

Just when you think you've understood something...

Of course, the yuri flag hasn't been risen just for the heck of it. Where could this go?

It might be one-sided. In that case we should expect it to become a major plot point, at the very least, or we wouldn't have opened this can of worms. But you were already promised no girly tears or yandere actions at the end.

It might be mutual. Let's not kid ourselves. If that's the case the threesome option becomes an important contender for the ending. Sex optional. But fun things are fun (sayeth one Yui or the other) and you were also promised a somewhat dark ending. Maybe they're gonna have very bad sex? What a twist...

Or maybe we're gonna close the two H/Y routes? 8Man is already turning girls down left and right and needs to be very careful now. Maybe we'll get an ending with _manly_ tears then?

And of course it might be "no-sided". Meaning we don't fully understand Yui's agenda and she's just pretending.


	4. Chapter 4 - Aftermath

**Chapter 4: Aftermath**

It took almost fifteen minutes until Yukino came back. Yui leaped to her feet the second she entered the room.

"It's getting late, Yukinon. I'll be going."

"You..."

"I'm... thank you for the evening, Yukinon. I'll... see you on Monday, I guess."

"I'd really appreciate if you stayed. Look, I haven't even offered you something to eat or drink yet. Let me bring something from the kitchen."

Yui looked at Hachiman. Hachiman looked at Yukino.

"Please stay," she repeated.

Hachiman shrugged. Hesitatingly, Yui sat down again.

"Would you help me carry something from the kitchen, Hikigaya?"

"Sure."

They left the room. Yui stayed back, absorbed in thought.

o o o

Yukino was arranging drink cartons, bottles, and three cups on a tablet. "You'll find snacks are in the cupboard up there on the very left."

" _I_ told her to go. In no unclear terms," Hachiman whispered. He opened the cupboard. It was stuffed with junk food. "That's kinda unexpected."

Yukino smiled. "Yuigahama brings them with her whenever she comes visiting me. In any case, I understand your motives but that wasn't necessary." She looked at him. "We need to agree on a few rules. First, I'm the one to tell people to leave my apartment. I fought hard enough to make her stay."

"And then more things happened."

"As I said, I understand. Still."

"Then two quick things, Yukinoshita. First, whenever you want _me_ to leave, give me a sign. Second, give me another if you want me to drag Yuigahama with me. Kicking and screaming, if necessary."

"Hikigaya, we need to talk, To her. With each other. Because for now, she won't stop talking anyway. So if we don't talk, we're only giving her the monopoly to interpret the state of the club."

Hachiman looked at the door, unsure. "If we had more time..."

Yukino went to the door and closed it.

"Yuigahama for sure knows that I didn't want you here just for carrying snacks to the living room. We can take all the time we need." She poured tea into two of the cups and offered one to him.

"So I preferred if you stayed, too. Unfortunately, I don't know how long this might take. Until very late, perhaps. You might want to call your parents."

"My parents aren't even at home this weekend."

"That simplifies things."

"Komachi is, though. I need to call her at some point or she'll worry. But are you okay with that?"

Yukino gave him a questioning look. "Why do you ask?"

"She knows we went to the park today. She even knows Yuigahama wasn't with us. She won't tell our parents but she will draw her conclusions."

The look changed from questioning to annoyed.

"But that's a problem for another day, I guess," Hachiman mumbled.

"Indeed. If it makes you feel more comfortable, I will talk her out of any conclusion she might draw. On another day. Now, let us get back to the problem at hand. We need to talk." She looked at him, invitingly.

After a few seconds, Hachiman finally reacted. "I apologize for having you made feel uncomfortable."

Yukino raised a brow. " _Me?_ Oh, 'ready to jump on whatever girl...'"

"Yes," he hurried to answer.

"Hikigaya, I hope you won't find this appalling, but I'm not squeamish when it comes to such things. You'd need stronger verbal calibers if you wanted to shock me. _Yuigahama_ is the one you've made feel uncomfortable, to say the very least."

He didn't respond.

"I really had hoped we were beyond these games by now. Do you know what made me really angry, Hikigaya? That your plan had almost worked, and that despite I had looked through it. Or maybe because. I hate being manipulated in any form. It took Yuigahama to put some sense back into me."

"I knew the two of you would look through it," he admitted, "but yes, it didn't matter as long as it _worked_."

"But it didn't."

Hachiman shrugged. "It would have been for the better."

"You complete overreacted. That letter..."

"Yukinoshita, the problem isn't the letter. And it also didn't start today."

Yukino shook her head. "Hikigaya, you won't make anyone happier by taking yourself out of the picture."

"In the medium term..."

"No. But this discussion is fruitless." She took a sip of tea and leaned against a cupboard. "Let us talk about Yuigahama. I allied myself with her when you performed your little maneuver, just as you had planned. But maybe that wasn't entirely fair. She was a bit hypocritical in her reaction."

"So you noticed?"

"Although it took me some time."

Hachiman nodded. "Me too, I must admit." He paused. "You said we needed to talk to each other and to her. To each other: We're doing it now. To her: Weren't we also already doing that in the end? I tried, at least. It's just that Yuigahama won't listen."

"You tried to redirect some pressure she put on me to yourself. I noticed. Thank you. I still haven't given up to talk some sense into her. She finally declared her love to you. You rejected her, as she probably already had expected. Maybe we can see that as a good start for something new?"

"She might continue to do so. Throwing around her love declarations."

"I doubt she would really bother you in public. In the club, maybe. But is it that terrible to have a beautiful girl declare her love to you?"

"No," Hachiman confessed, "but I don't want to hurt her. I know that's not possible."

"I believe it is very much possible. Just thank her, for example. Could we make that a rule, too? She will finally grow tired of it. If she hasn't already."

"I wasn't the only one she confessed her love to," Hachiman reminded her. "If it was sincere. Which I doubt."

"Yes. That is something I will have to discuss with her in private first..."

For a minute they just drank their tea in silence.

"Yuigahama is right about one thing," Hachiman finally said. "You didn't give her answers."

"Maybe I'll finally have to," Yukino answered, "but it's not as if she has to give her approval to my decisions."

"It has something to do with your final talk with your sister, right? After that, the two of us... after that, it just somehow stopped."

"Don't make it sound as if Haruno is dead. Or as if I hadn't seen her since then. Every now and then."

Hachiman didn't respond.

"I had to make choices." Yukino looked bitter for a moment. "That's what it was all about, wasn't it? I need to learn to live my own life."

"I shouldn't have asked. It's not my business."

"Maybe if you had made it your business back then… maybe then..." Yukino mused. "Well, probably it wouldn't have mattered."

"It wouldn't have?"

"I wasn't lying when I said I didn't want the club to change. It's good as it is. You can't have everything."

"Yuigahama once said she wanted to take 'everything', remember? Right before your request about your family..."

"Yes. And now it makes me wonder..." She shook her head. "That's something for later. But I also wasn't lying when I said I have feelings for you. It's just..." She paused.

"You don't need to talk about it. It really doesn't matter anymore."

"Yes, I doesn't, I guess. You… What are you looking for now? What is the real thing that would meet your standards? Love at first sight?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. I don't think much about it at the moment."

"Or maybe you're only rationalizing your own inaction?"

He looked away. "That's not fair."

"I apologize."

"Say, Yukinoshita, if I had given in to Yuigahama's demands, I mean to 'fix' that kiss, would that have made you jealous?"

She looked at her cup. "Jealous… I don't know. Envious, maybe? I admit it."

"Well we had and _indirect_ kiss already..."

"An indirect…?" Then she understood. "I admit I haven't looked at it that way yet. Could you please not liken Yuigahama to a drinking straw?" She kept her face down to hide a grin.

"You know, Yukinoshita," he went on, in a serious tone, "maybe I really should have made it my business..."

"Maybe I should have made different choices, but..."

"Yukino..."

Surprised, she lifted her head and found herself looking directly into his eyes.

He pressed his lips against hers.

Yukino turned out to be an unexpectedly aggressive kisser...

o o o

"Why did you do that?"

"I thought… Maybe I was wrong. It felt more like _we_ though. Like _you_ even, after a while."

Yukino looked unsure. "If I hadn't liked the kiss I would have pushed you away. I liked it so I went with it. Was that wrong?"

"I wouldn't call it wrong..."

"I'm sorry, Hikigaya. I don't really know how to behave in such a situation… It was a wonderful kiss. Please don't believe anything else."

"But?"

"We are, how did you put it, in free fall. And if we crash in this particular way Yuigahama will get hurt the most.

"And you don't want to hurt her."

"I don't want anybody to get hurt," she insisted.

"As I said, that's most likely not possible."

"Can we not … set up a net? To stop that fall?"

He looked puzzled. "Could you rephrase that in a language less metaphorical?"

"A new arrangement. The rules, I talked about"

"Rules, you say? Like how?" he wanted to know.

She looked a bit unhappy. "Not repeating what we just did would be one of them, I'm afraid."

"Is that so, huh?"

"I'm sorry."

"And what else?"

"That can't be decided by you and me alone. I need to talk to Yuigahama. In private, first. Clarify a few points. Then we can decide together."

"Are you sure about that? Your conversations haven't played out that well so far."

"I promise that I'll try my best this time. It's not as if your intervention had been particularly helpful either."

"So you do want me to leave after all?"

Yukino contemplated, then abruptly closed the cupboard Hachiman had opened earlier. "We've run out of snacks, I'm afraid. Could you perhaps go buy some?"

"Oh... sure."

"You might not find the convenience store right away. Or maybe it doesn't offer what you're looking for."

He rolled his eyes. "How long would you estimate will it take until I find a convenience store that offers the snacks you've suddenly remembered to have run out of?"

"Only half an hour. An hour, maybe."

"Understood."

"Thank you, Hikigaya."

"Would you just..." he began.

"Yes?"

"... call me Hachiman. Or would that be against The Rules?"

"Hachiman..." she savored the sound of that. But somehow, it didn't feel right. "Hikki," she decided, smiling.

"Hikki?" Indignation in his voice. "I would prefer..."

"So you like 'Hikki'?" she teased him. "Wonderful. 'Hikki', it is."

Hachiman drew a face. "So 'Hikki' and 'Yukinon' then?"

She smiled again. "'Yukino' is just fine."

Author's notes

So Hachiman/Yukino is still a possibility? And the next chapter will have girly tears. Don't draw your conclusions though. This fic is far from over.


	5. Chapter 5 - Breakdown

**Chapter 5: Breakdown**

It certainly hadn't escaped Yui how long it had taken the two to discover that the Yukinoshita household had run out of snacks. But she made no comment when Hachiman excused himself.

She probably wouldn't even have made a comment if Hachiman had declared to leave on a quest to defeat the Great Demon King. She looked downright ill, as if her sickness had never been a lie. Browbeaten, she cowered in a corner of the couch.

Yukino put the tablet with the tea and some fruit juices on the table and placed herself in the seat Hachiman had occupied so far, diagonally across the table from Yui.

"Yuigahama, it looks as if in the meantime you've realized what you have done. I understand, or at least I think I do, you were aiming to put things into movement again? But as a result, you put the relationship between me and Hikigaya in jeopardy."

Yui just nodded quietly.

"Believe it or not, I took my time in the bathroom mainly to recall what exactly had happened and had been said this evening, and to make sense of your behavior. Where to start? The letter. Of course you knew we would find out about your prank, and fast. It didn't matter to you."

"It would have forced you to talk about it. Your feelings."

"But he rejected me," Yukino reminded her.

"Maybe today. But tomorrow is another day, and the day after that..."

"You arrived here," Yukino continued, "acting provokingly cheerful and unconcerned."

"Why did you take this so serious in the first place if there's nothing between you and Hikki? Not long ago you would just have bantered about that letter."

"I doubt that. And haven't we already put on record that there indeed is 'something between me and Hikki'? In any case, my point is, you wanted to make us angry, correct? You tried your own little Hikigaya maneuver," Yukino concluded.

"It just would have helped if you got a little angry at me. Band together against me. For a while," Yui protested, "just for a while. That's not like what he did. I didn't try to... to..."

"... cut and burn yourself out of our lives?"

"... creep you out for good and forever, yeah."

"I'm willing to believe you. Still, now as the noble Hikigaya had stepped in to protect our friendship, you looked through his acting way before me. Because you had been following a similar script up to this point."

"He really tried to put it up to eleven, right?"

"But you weren't expecting the kiss."

"No. I didn't think he would go that far."

"But after that you knew he must have reached his limit. So you kept cool, raised the stakes."

"I wasn't feeling like being 'cool'. But yeah. I had to."

"But nevertheless, in retrospect, would you agree that your plan had spectacularly failed and backfired at that point?"

"I'm not good with plans, Yukinon," Yui confessed.

"Well, Hikigaya's plan backfired spectacularly too. After that, pardon me, you were running around like a headless chicken, figuratively speaking. Trying to force him to kiss you to make me jealous. Then trying to force a confession out of me."

Yui bolted up. "I was _angry_. I felt I had _earned_ that kiss. I'm not much of a schemer, Yukinon. And also not a robot. I'm just a girl. But..."

"... but?"

"Yeah, it would have helped. If it had made you jealous."

"Well," Yukino took a sip from the cup she had brought from the kitchen. "I now understand the what. Let us move on to the why."

Yui looked at her fingers. "You won't ask me about that final kiss?"

"That's... a different chapter altogether. We'll come to that. But since you've brought it up... was it sincere? Or your last hurray? To, how did you put it, 'creep me out for good and forever'?"

"Maybe it was my last hurray. But it was sincere, too. I am sorry."

"Don't be sorry. For the latter part, that is. Yuigahama, you haven't even touched your cup yet. Please drink. And relax a bit. You look terrible."

Hesitatingly, Yui took it up.

"The why is were it gets murky. You're anything but a schemer, true. If that were your forte, I'd torment my mind about your real intentions now. But I believe you told me the plain truth. You really wanted to do this _for_ us. Please explain why."

"I already told you why. What is it you don't understand?"

"You were convinced Hikigaya and me were in love or at least would fall in love if you weren't somehow in the way, is that correct? I do not want to start this discussion again, so..."

"He said he cares for you," Yui interrupted her. "You said you have feelings for him."

Yukino sighed. "You achieved at least one of your goals, you know? In the kitchen, we talked about our feelings. But at the moment, I don't see a future for them."

"Yukinon, just tell me why. I know you were in love with him. Or at least falling for him. But then… you somehow chickened out. And then everything just stopped."

"I didn't chicken out. I made a decision."

"Then please explain it to me," Yui begged.

Yukino sighed again. "Maybe it's really for the better. If we had made our arrangement a bit more explicit, and if we had explained it to you and each other, maybe this all wouldn't have happened. You heard what he said about choosing.

"He said when you're pondering which girl to choose you're not in love. Stupid."

"Why stupid? This is admittedly not my field of expertise but wasn't it a romantic thought, in a way?"

"It's romantic. And stupid. Hikki is so negative because the real world will never be as perfect as he wants it to be. Well… at least it means he still feels something for me too, right?"

Yukino was quite sure that Hachiman had talked about the very act of making a conscious choice in the first place and not so much about being unsure who to choose if he had to. But she let Yui's interpretation stand. There was no need to add fuel to her friend's depression.

"But what about you, Yukinon?" Yui asked on.

"Yuigahama, I fought so much to gain some independence from my family. What would it have been good for if I had just thrown myself into Hikigaya's strong arms a minute later?"

"Why do you put it that way? It wouldn't need to be that way."

"Do you remember the meeting with Haruno? Just me and her?"

"How could I forget that. You cried in my arms. So much. But you wouldn't tell me anything."

"We argued. We fought. We screamed the worst things into each other's faces. She had planned to hook me up with Hikigaya, you know? She said 'You can take him or not, that's your decision to make.' Mocking me. In her arrogant and contemptuous voice."

"And? I don't understand."

"How could I ever have gained independence from her if I had just taken the path she had plotted for me? She said, it was my decision. So I made a decision."

Yui was shocked. "You gave up on Hikki to get back at your sister? That's the most stupid..."

"Not to get back at her. To step out of her shadow."

"And if she had said, don't jump from that bridge..."

"That comparison is a bit polemic, don't you think?"

"Yukinon, I'm really angry. You could have had what I wanted so much. And you threw it away like it's nothing."

"Not nothing. I didn't expect things to be easy. I knew I would have to make great sacrifices to distance myself from my family. The sacrifices just turned out to take a different form from what I had expected."

Silence.

"Yukino, you said 'It's not simple.'," Yui finally continued. "I can see that now. Even if it's stupid beyond belief. But you also said you don't love Hikki. And I still don't believe that. Less than ever."

"Yuigahama, what I think is right and feel is right aren't completely unrelated things. I said I have feelings for him. The rest is semantics. Of course I thought about us becoming lovers. To sleep with him, and..."

Yui was taken aback. "You have strange ways to look at some things, you know..."

"Isn't that what it's about in the end? When you're close already anyway?"

"No. It's… well… I don't know but… whatever… Yukinon, maybe you need friends to have girl talk with, you know."

"I have you."

Yui beamed. "That's right, in the future we should..." Her expression darkened. "Or maybe we won't."

"We should. We definitely should. Are you still trying to hook me up with Hikigaya?"

"If I take myself out of the equation your and his feeling will soon turn into something else, I'm sure."

"Yuigahama, Hikigaya and myself aren't trains you can just put on tracks and they'll run to where you want them. You were trying to manipulate me. It hurt me very much. Now you should understand why this hurts me so much. But as you might recall I didn't want to dwell on my relationship with Hikigaya. The question is, why would you even try this? You're saying you love him, you insist on it, so why? You're not that selfless."

"I'm not. But I can make decisions too. You can't have everything."

"Yuigahama, 'everything' is a keyword, thank you for reminding me. You mentioned that kiss at the end. I'm afraid, we might have to talk about 'everything'. Not long ago you told us you wanted to take 'everything', do you remember?"

"Our date at the aquarium, yes."

"Back then you sounded as if you were at least willing to pick up a fight."

"Did I?"

"'Everything', I understood that you wanted Hikigaya to become your lover while I would remain your friend."

Yui opened her mouth but Yukino just went on. "Somewhere along the line you seemed to have had a change of heart and would have been satisfied with Hikigaya being my lover and you being our friend."

"Well..."

"This change of heart was one thing that puzzled me when I was thinking this evening through. Now I think I understand you a bit better. 'Everything' couldn't have been what I thought it was. 'Everything' was way more than that, correct? After all that I've learned today... I put two and two together. Well, that arithmetic is a little off in this case..."

Yui looked very uncomfortable. "I didn't want to be understood. At all. I just wanted to have said it."

"You..."

"There are dreams, you know? Like the prince on his white horse. And there is the real world. You don't wake up in the morning expecting a prince on a horse at your door when you leave for school. And the point is, you wouldn't even want one."

"So Hikigaya and me becoming lovers wasn't something else entirely. It was just less than everything."

"Can we stop talking about that? I said, I made a decision too. It is the best thing that could happen to us. In the real world."

"To Hikigaya and me, you mean?"

"To us."

"Because you thought you and Hikigaya becoming lovers instead couldn't happen in the real world anyway?"

"It's mainly because I could cope with it. Could you? You only have us."

"So you can 'cope'. I think we're going in circles, Yuigahama. I still don't understand. Why would you be willing to give away your love so easily, if it's real. Why don't you fight to win? Have you really thought that through?"

Yui smiled a sad smile. "Thought that through? Yukinon, if you and Hikki became a couple. How do you think I should react then? How would you react if you were me?"

"I would be angry. Very sad." She looked away. "Not if I were you. _I_ would be. We were three. And suddenly there are two and one. And I'm the one. That would make me sad, regardless of the exact nature of my feelings."

"Can I tell you a little story?"

"Yes?"

"I come to the club one day. And it turns out it's finally that day." Yui's eyes became unfocussed as she began to talk, "You wouldn't keep it a secret. That wouldn't be fair. So you tell me. Break it to me gently. During the following days, you're trying not to show your affection when I'm around. It doesn't work that way of course. It's too obvious. Often I see you kissing and don't know if I should look at you or away. And it hurts. So much. And you're feeling guilt and pity." She swallowed.

"Yuigahama..."

"I cry in my bed. But that's not the worst thing. The worst thing is when I'm crying in front of you. Then you're feeling more guilty and pity me more and that's the last thing I want.

But there are also the good times. We're going out and have fun together and don't think of all the problems. Like in the best days we had before. And you're much more outgoing now, not sitting silently behind your books. And in time, it hurts less. And because it hurts me less you're feeling less guilt and pity. But the fun things, they don't go away. They stay." She actually had started sobbing as if to mock her own words.

"We graduate and might go to the same university. You're looking forward to it because by now, you know, the fun things have become more important than guilt and pity. And we three are still having fun together, or just you and me. And sometimes you can't make it and it's just Hikki and me. Then you're feeling a bit jealous even though you also know it's nonsense, because you know Hikki loves you and you know I would never betray you either.

And one day in the future you tell me 'Do you remember how you brought Hikki and me together?' And then you _actually_ remember and feel a bit guilty again. And you're asking yourself how many years it had been since you last felt guilty. And I laugh because I ask myself how many years it had been since it just stopped hurting."

She was crying her heart out by now. Her last words were hardly understandable. "And you're telling me 'Have you really thought that through? You should be like angry or sad or something.'"

Having heard what her friend had bottled up inside of her, and not knowing how to react to that, Yukino was desperate. "Yuigahama, what can I..."

The answer was incomprehensible.

"What did you say?"

"Hug me."

Author's Notes

That was chapter 5 of our little chamber play. Yui's outburst was hard to write. I'm not gonna lie.

I'm well ahead in the editing process and the next chapter will be out on Monday, I hope (meaning: it will still be Monday somewhere, at least).

More girl talk coming up. And we'll read about Hachiman literally trying to defrost the Ice Queen. No, _literally_. Yes, literally literally.


	6. Chapter 6 - Himalaya

**Chapter 6: Himalaya**

Once Yukino had begun to imagine the weight on her lap as a cat, stroking her friend's hair had stopped feeling awkward.

"I screwed up," Yui sobbed.

"No."

"I could cope. I really could. I just didn't know that telling the condensed version would make me feel so bad, you know?"

"Yes."

"But did you listen? The story has a happy ending. So..."

"That was, what, your plan for our future?"

"I said I'm not good with plans. It's simply what will happen. In the best outcome. Us three minus me equals Hikki plus you. That's the whole math about it."

"This is," Yukino began "all in your head, don't you see that? You're tormenting yourself over something that's just in your head."

"It's not in my head. Maybe you really don't understand what's happening to you because you're a loner. Maybe even Hikki doesn't understand it. But I doubt that. But in any case, that's what will happen."

"Yui, stop trying to distance yourself from us. I simply won't allow you to take yourself out of the equation. Today, Hikigaya tried that and failed. And you are no Hikigaya. We are beyond that by now. Didn't I tell you already I often thought about the idea, about Hikigaya and me? I did it again and again, and again today. The conclusion was still the same: the benefits don't outweigh the costs."

"Yukinon, such things aren't decided in terms of costs and benefits."

"They are, when the costs would include my dear friend."

"But love outweighs friendship. You really should have tried kissing Hikki. You would feel differently about it now, I'm sure."

"No, I am sure of it."

Any further explanation would have been more than unhelpful at this point, Yukino decided.

"Say Yui, isn't there an aspect missing from the story you told me?" she asked.

"What do you mean."

"For example, shouldn't Hikigaya also be a little jealous when it's just the two of us together?"

"Why?"

"You could try to kiss me when I don't watch out..." Yukino explained.

Yui lifted her head. "You're making fun of me."

Yukino gently pushed Yui's head back into her lap. "No, Yui. But tell me, shouldn't he?"

"You know, that thing... I wanted to keep it secret. I think I will have to change that story now?"

"Yui, you should just forget about that stupid story altogether, not try to refine it. But he should, yes?"

"Well, maybe he is a little jealous," Yui began to improvise "but then he imagines things and finds it a bit exiting? But no..."

"No?"

"Hikki has no reason to feel jealous."

"I think he should feel a bit jealous in your story. I'm positive he should."

No response. Yukino tried another approach.

"Yui, do you remember your first sleepover? I offered to take the couch. You said the couch would be much too uncomfortable to sleep on, and too short. You insisted that we shared the bed."

"Don't make me sound like a creeper, Yukinon. It wasn't like that at all. That was even before… I just wanted to talk to you a bit more. Also, your bed is as broad as a double bed and I always kept my distance as best as I could."

Yukino sighed inaudibly. "But didn't you find it exciting in a way? Later then maybe? I'm not judging you. Just tell me."

"Yeah... in a way. It was exciting. But also awkward."

"It didn't fee awkward for me. Not awkward."

"Because you didn't know."

"Yui, I'm not getting through to you, hm?"

"I made you feel uncomfortable today. I shouldn't have done it. Can we just forget about it? Can we just talk about you and Hikki again?"

"If you wish. Don't you think Hikigaya dreams of 'everything' too from time to time? I guess it's normal?"

Yui's eyes lit up. "Do you really think that?"

"Yui, I've also been dreaming about 'everything' from time to time."

Yui abruptly bolted upright. "Don't make fun of me!"

"What is wrong?" Yukino asked.

"You've said you're not in love with him! Not even with him! Again and again! And now..."

"I have."

"You still have no idea what I meant with 'everything', right? Not at all."

"I'm very sure I understand you now. I guess, you're confused because we both mean a slightly different kind of 'everything'. And that's because we don't mean the same kind of 'dreaming' either."

"Well, I don't understand you then."

Another sigh. "Yui, will you... put your head into my lap again? That makes it easier."

Yui reluctantly laid down again.

"Earlier," Yukino began "Hikigaya offered you, us to be exact, quite bluntly to sleep with him. Did you find that a bit exciting, too?"

Yui's ear, the one Yukino could see, went red. "You know it wasn't for real. And to excite me was the last thing he wanted. What are you getting at?"

"I ask you that _exactly because_ you knew it wasn't for real. I found it a little exciting, you know."

"Yeah, me too. A little," Yui admitted.

"And when he forced that kiss on you? Did you find that exciting?"

"No," Yui snapped.

"You spoke about the difference between dreams and the real world, Yui. Not everything you dream about you want for real. Especially when it comes to such things. Please keep that in mind now."

"Yukinon, I don't understand. Just what do you want to tell me? Or hear from me?"

"I have no more questions. I also want to tell you a story. A much nicer story. Not from the real world, though. Please promise me not to ask and make no comments. Also, don't tell Hikigaya about it. Well, I guess you will understand that when I'm done anyway."

"Is it that serious?"

"'Serious' is not the right word, maybe. But still. Please promise."

"I promise."

Yukino began to stroke Yui's hair again. "And also, just keep lying in my lap."

"Okay."

"I told you about different kinds of dreams, right? This is a dream I had. We went hiking. Hikigaya, you and me. In... the Himalayas, perhaps."

"The Himalayas?"

"Or Antarctica. Or the North Pole. I don't know. Somewhere very cold. I said this is a dream. Don't expect geographical precision. But you promised something."

"I'm sorry. Go on."

"Please take this serious."

"I will."

"So, it's cold. Ice all around, and it's snowing. We walk over a frozen lake. And suddenly the ice breaks under me. I fall into the lake, and hit my head. I'm unconscious."

Yui still didn't understand what her friend was getting at but listened curiously.

"But Hikigaya jumps after me and drags me out before I drown. Now his and my clothes are dripping with ice water and it's freezing. And I'm still unconscious.

But there is, well, a cabin close by. You two drag me there. The cabin is also cold but there is a bed with blankets and a fireside. You're trying to light a fire and tell Hikigaya to get me and himself out of the wet clothes. He's very embarrassed of course. But you get furious. You yell at him, you even hit him, he should start behaving like an adult, and that I might die if I'm not getting warmed up.

So he removes my clothes. Every piece of clothing I'm wearing. And he gets out of his own clothing. Everything."

Yui's ear had gotten bright red again by now.

"So he puts me into the bed and snuggles against me under the blankets. Because what can you do, we need to warm up, right? And you finally have a fire going. You tell Hikigaya you'll warm us both. So you also remove your clothes and snuggle against the both of us..."

"And then?" Yui whispered.

"I soon wake up again."

"And then?"

"And the fire heats up the cabin. And our clothes dry. And the next morning we can leave again.

The End."

"The End?" Yui asked a bit disappointed. "That was..." She stopped.

"Just ask. You keep asking anyway."

"That was a... dream you had?"

"A dream," Yukino insisted. "Often."

"Yukinon, this is so important. You say, Hikki snuggles against you. And I snuggle against you too?"

"Hikigaya warms me. And you do too. Yui, how much more explicit do you want me to get?"

"You know," Yui began slowly, "if Hikki hadn't jumped after you, you would just have drowned."

"Yes, definitely."

"I think, when people almost die, they think about what the might have missed in life. And might want to try all kind of things. Crazy things."

"And I think you're right. They really might want to try all kinds of things. But don't forget, Yui, in the real world, nobody nearly drowned in an ice lake."

"Yeah..."

"You remember what we said about dreams and the real world."

"Yeah..."

"You understand me? It's important that you understand me here."

Yui nodded... and also started sobbing again.

"Yui, I'm sorry, I apparently just can't get this right."

"No, no." Yui wiped her eyes with her arm. "I'm just happy."

"I don't know if I will ever understand you."

"It's okay." Yui sat up and leaned her head against Yukino's shoulder. "But why are you telling me this dream?"

"I thought you might like it? Isn't that how to do girl talk either?"

"I don't think so, Yukinon."

"I'm sorry, Yui. What I really wanted is you to understand that you're most important to me. No matter which angle you're looking at it from. And your happiness is too. Please never think of you as somebody I would just thoughtlessly toss aside to start something with Hikigaya. Yui, I was startled when you kissed me, that is true. My reaction wasn't exactly the most levelheaded one. But I only stayed in the bathroom for so long to think the whole situation through. I told you already. Then talking to Hikigaya first might also not have been the wisest decision..."

"It's okay," Yui repeated. "Say, Yukinon..."

"Yes?"

"Would you like to fix that kiss then, perhaps?"

"We can't do that, Yui. I am sorry."

A scowl. "Why not?"

Yukino turned around and looked at Yui. "Remember your story? I want to avoid having the sadness and pain and guilt and pity. While retaining the fun things. The three of us together. We just need to set up a few rules to have that. Wouldn't you like that?"

"Yukinon, you can't just continue to deny..."

"I'm not denying anything. Maybe I haven't made that point clear enough. It hurt giving up on Hikigaya. It still hurts every day. But I can live with it. Seeing how you have suffered… that must have been much worse."

"Don't tell me you want to give up on Hikki because of me..."

"I told you already why I've given up on him."

"But, you know, now I'm even one kiss ahead with Hikki… even if it wasn't a sincere one. What about that?"

Yukino turned away. "Actually, you're not."

"Today?"

"Yes. In the kitchen."

"I'm happy, Yukinon."

"Are you?"

"Yeah. Really."

"You shouldn't. You definitely shouldn't. But it doesn't matter. It will stop."

"Those rules, hm."

"Come Monday," Yukino declared, "we'll found the club anew. Better and stronger than ever. You were right, we can't have everything. But we all can have something. We can't avoid the pain altogether. But we can minimize it by distributing it evenly."

"Yeah..." Yui mumbled. "Minimizing the pain... maybe. But..."

"We would need those rules to make it work. But we can make it work."

"Yeah..."

"Yui, when Hikigaya returns, let me talk to him alone again. Then I let the two of you talk. And then the three of us will talk together. How to go on from here."

As if on cue, noise was coming from the apartment door. Yukino had given Hachiman a key before he had left.

"Yui, it has been a long day for you," Yukino said quickly. "A bath would be relaxing now, don't you think?"

Author's Notes

I told you about the Himalayas after chapter 1. You didn't believe me. I also told you things might get dark. And there might be no romantic conclusion at all.

Yukino's idea, let's call it the BFF route, it really could have worked. But in the next chapter two people will stumble into a little power game. And all might go down in mistrust, misunderstandings, miscalculations, and misfiring schemes… I'll try to keep the author's notes at a minimum after the next few chapters. Perhaps I'll add more lengthy notes after the 9th chapter to explain the finer points of what's to come...


	7. Chapter 7 - Control

**Chapter 7: Control  
**

"You know, there is a line between tactfulness and comedy. And we have crossed it by now," Hachiman remarked after Yui had quickly excused herself and left for the bath.

"I will take a bath after her. And I will excuse myself in more direct terms if you prefer it that way." Yukino poured tea into his cup. "We talked. What did you do in the meantime?"

He took it. "I thought. About where to go from here. Could you give me an update of the situation, please? What did you talk about?"

"Oh, the Himalayas, for example."

"Come again?"

There was a sparkle of humor in her eyes, and slight blush on her cheeks. "The Himalayas don't need to concern you. I just wanted to say it."

He gave her a serious look. "Does the fact that Yuigahama's eyes were red and puffy as she left concern me then? What did you say to her?"

"I'm not trying to make excuses but I really took care not to upset her. Maybe I failed. Maybe it was inevitable. But I can say that we made progress."

"What kind of progress?"

"She was convinced you and me would end up in a relationship anyway and tried to deal with it. She wasn't in on the arrangement or didn't believe it would hold. The stalemate, the uncertainty made her suffer. And suddenly, as we talked, everything she had suppressed came to the surface. It was heartbreaking."

He paused. "What do you think, then?"

"Me? That we need to help her, of course. Make her stop suffering."

"You mean, immediately? Eventually…?"

Yukino gave him a deep look.

"So, do you want me..." Hachiman went on.

"Yes?"

"As you said earlier, she confessed her love. I rejected her. If we closed that chapter, if we tried to just become closer friends now… would that help?"

Yukino smiled. "I'm sure it would."

"And you would have no objections against it? Paying her some more attention?"

Now it was Yukino who paused. "I would have no objections. Becoming closer friends would be exactly what we all need now."

Hachiman stared at his tea.

"Hikki, do you…?"

"It's the rules, right?" he quickly interrupted her. "That's what it boils down to. Becoming closer friends."

"I think so, yes. And that is what is needed now. What we all should stick to now. I am sorry."

"So Yuigahama won't get hurt."

"So we all get hurt a little less. But Yui is most important at the moment, yes."

"How do you imagine that exactly? We swear to be best friends forever, write down a contract and bury it in a cookie box under a tree at out secret place?"

"No, not like that, obviously. Don't ridicule the idea."

"But it is ridiculous. We aren't kindergarteners. This is not how adults manage their relations. Or could. How would these rules help anything? Or anybody? Mean anything?"

"Hikki, you're talking as if about an anonymous crowd. Two thirds of 'anybody' are sitting right here at the moment. And Yui would just feel relieved. She would certainly agree."

"Fine. I believe you. So Yuigahama was suffering, I understand."

"I don't think so." Yukino shook her head.

"Don't think what?"

"I don't think you really understand. Hikki. You haven't seen her. She wasn't crying in your lap."

"So maybe I don't understand Yuigahama, then. But I can promise to somehow make her feel less uncomfortable in the future, if you wish. I understand we shouldn't repeat the kiss in the kitchen for now. But Yukino, can I be blunt here? Nothing will happen as long as _I_ won't allow it to happen. Isn't that enough 'rules'? Can you trust me a bit here?"

"This is not a question of trust. Especially not mine."

"I think it is."

Yukino shook her head again. "You really don't understand how she's feeling. You'd just go on with what started this in the first place. The fear of suddenly becoming the odd one out… Maybe my thoughts didn't revolve around that fear as much as Yui's but it wasn't foreign to me." She suddenly looked bitter. "Never think about it too late in the evening, it will keep you awake at night."

She drank some tea. "However it might be, strictly speaking, you're wrong. Which brings me to the next point Yui and me talked about."

"What do you mean?"

"… 'as long a I won't allow it.' Strictly speaking… that isn't really true anymore."

"Again, what do you mean?"

"You remember her love declaration to me? It was sincere. And that would open another angle."

"A hypothetical one," he dismissed it.

"As I said, we talked about it. The angle isn't any more hypothetical now than the others. Maybe as hypothetical. But not more. In a way, it's… tempting. It would be dishonest to deny that. But it doesn't matter anymore."

He didn't respond.

"You understand what I'm trying to say?" Yukino asked.

"I just needed to let it sink in."

"You're not having a moral problem here, I assume."

"No. But why are you even telling me?"

"Because you should know. And maybe to make you understand Yui's situation a bit better."

"So it's time to find a cookie box, after all?"

"Why do you say that now? You mocked that idea just two minutes ago. You sounded so confident."

"And one minute ago, the situation got a lot more complicated."

Yukino looked at him. "Is it really that? Or is it that you feel you have lost control over the situation? As long as you're in control there is no need for rules for you. Now, nobody is in control anymore. We'll have to rely on each other." She shrugged. "Well, now that the playing field has been leveled, so to speak, let us find ways to save the club."

Hachiman put his tea aside. "Aren't you overdramatizing a bit? And isn't it besides the point what I might think about it? Wouldn't you agree that, in principle, a situation where somebody was in control was to prefer over a situation where nobody is in control?"

"You know, Hikki," Yukino mused, "You said it: Yui declared her love to you and you rejected her. And not to forget, she was willing to give up on you for my sake. A chapter has been closed. Doesn't that simplify the situation a bit again? Isn't that a good start for all of us to become closer friends?"

Hachiman took a few seconds to process the message.

" _Nobody_ is in control, huh?"

Yukino took a sip of tea. "As I said, we'll have to rely on each other."

" _Each other_ , huh?"

Yukino abruptly put her tea down. "Hikki, I don't like the turn this discussion is taking. It's not as if I had asked for the situation to evolve in the way it did."

"If you say so..."

"Hikki, I told you where I see our future." Her voice became warmer. "I also told you I have feelings for you. Have you already forgotten that? Can't _you_ just trust _me_? I wanted you to understand Yui's fears. But there is no need to jump directly to paranoia."

He didn't answer.

"Hikki, I fear our fall keeps accelerating. Can we work on that net now?"

He sighed. "I am sorry. So best friends forever it is then."

"Not explicitly, I think you had a point there. But in principle, yes."

He looked at her. "Why not make it explicit?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you keep insisting on it now?" She paused. "Yui would agree. I told you, right? Yui would take it to heart..."

He continued to stare at her. "Why do you keep insisting on not making it explicit?"

Yukino now looked sad. "Hikki, I'm beginning to think a little fear might keep us all in check..."

They drank their tea.

"Say, Yukino," Hachiman finally asked, "when did you first come up with the idea for these rules? In the bathroom?"

"Yes, that's when I first thought about it."

"So why did we kiss then?"

"You kissed me."

"That again? Fine. But who was it who shoved _your tongue_ into _my mouth_? Any clues on the culprit, girl detective Yukinoshita Yukino?"

"I apologize. We've been over that already. Yes, I signaled my consent quite clearly. I wasn't trying to deny that now."

"So when you let me kiss you: Was that part of 'leveling the playing field'?"

"Is this an act of self-inspection? Or a question?"

He didn't take the bait. "A question."

Yukino contemplated. "I asked Yui something similar. She said: 'I'm neither a schemer nor a robot. Just a girl.'"

"Is that your answer?"

"It's also the truth. Hikki, the kiss felt wonderful. I already told you that. It would be easier for me if it hadn't."

"But there is also Yui to think of..."

She didn't answer except with a pitying look.

"I am sorry again," he apologized. "Unfortunately, it wouldn't be a good idea to fix the kiss and remove any doubts..."

"No!" Yukino snapped.

Hachiman kept his calm. "We agree then."

"Hikki." Yukino put her cup on the table and her voice became official. "I herewith make a request to the service club: Keep the service club together. And I am willing to lead this operation. Just _assist_ me."

"I was content with the state of the club," Hachiman answered hesitatingly. "I said so. I still can be content with it if it has to be this way. I just don't believe it can stay this way."

"Hikki, I can factor in your negativity. Just don't try to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. At least try to act as if it could work."

"I will."

"Hikki, I hope I made myself clear this time. This is about the _club_. You can't solve this the special Hikigaya way. Not practically, logically. If you couldn't practically solve it that way, you'd just nod and still attempt it. But in this case it would go against the very goal we're trying to achieve. No attempts to leave the game please."

"I understand."

"Let's wait for Yui, shall we?"

o o o

"Water is getting cold." Yui shouted from the bathroom door.

Yukino rose from her seat. "How nice of her, giving us an advance warning. I will now go hiding in the bathtub for a while. During that time, you and Yui will talk about everything that is better talked about in my absence. Is that direct enough? Just _try_ to understand her. The more the two of you could improve your relationship, the happier I'd be."

He nodded.

"And don't let her make any more self-sacrificial moves, Hikki. I won't accept them. Promise me that."

"I won't. And I won't make them either."

o o o

Yui and Yukino crossed paths in the semi-darkness between the bath and the living room. Yui wore her usual after-bath attire. Not exactly fitting considering the circumstances but Yukino decided not to mention it. Yui probably hadn't put much thought into it and Yukino had other things on her mind.

"I am sorry. I love you," she mumbled as she had closed to door behind her and could be sure neither Yui nor Hachiman would overhear her.

o o o

Yui's eyes were still a bit red. Oh well, it wasn't as if Hikki hadn't seen her in all kinds of states already. She didn't even notice Yukino's glances. Yui wasn't good with plans but she had made one. Now she had a battle to win and so little time.

At least, for the first time ever, she actually saw a realistic chance to win it.

Author's Notes

What if I told you that, with this chapter, the endgame has already started? Place your bets.


	8. Chapter 8 - Schemes

**Chapter 8: Schemes**

Yui had switched into an oversized red T-shirt, long enough to double as a skirt. Hikigaya knew that she had had sleepovers with Yukino before. Did she have clothing stashed away here or was that T-shirt Yukino's?

"'Hikki'."

"Yes?"

"No, I mean, she calls you 'Hikki' now. I've overheard it. So things are going smoothly?"

"It's 'Hikki' and 'Yukino', yes. She calls you 'Yui' now."

"So…?"

"Of course. 'Yui'."

"Much better." She smiled and sat down next to him. "It's easier to talk about some things when you don't see each other's faces, you know."

"I understand."

She sat close enough for him to smell her still wet hair. It was a confusing mixture of Yukino and Yui tones. Probably Yukino's shampoo.

"So what did she tell you? About what happened in the Himalayas or at the North Pole?" She giggled. "I guess not."

Whatever it was with the Himalayas, you wouldn't find in on Wikipedia, Hachiman was quite sure.

"No."

"It's just a joke. Forget about it."

His eyes wouldn't stop wandering sidewards, downwards, to her legs. And it wasn't even as if her large T-shirt revealed more of them than her school uniform. Then again, she would wear socks and shoes with her school uniform.

"Yukino told me you were very unhappy with the state of the club," he slowly began. "Suffering."

"Unhappy, yeah. I wanted it to be over, you know. That 'state of the club'."

"Is there anything I could have done better?"

"Fall in love with me?" she answered, half-joking. "Or fall in love with her."

"I am sorry, Yui, but..."

"No, I understand. You didn't want to choose a girl and all that. I was too pushy. Trying to force you to choose."

"Yukino said," he began, "we all should just start over as friends. Would you like that?

"No," she answered decidedly, "that wouldn't work."

That threw him off. "But that's what Yukino wants," he repeated, unsure how to proceed.

"No. If she wants to go on like this then I'd rather fight. Even if I lose, maybe. I can cope. I'm tougher than Yukino thinks."

"Fight for me?"

"Or for Yukino, you know? She loves me, I think..."

That threw him off again.

"She did tell you," Yui went on, hesitantly, "about the both of us, right? Me and her?"

"Is it 'the both of us' already?" Hachiman wanted to know.

"No, no, I mean, that she's... that she has also… That it would be a possibility."

"Yes. She told me."

Yui sighed. "I'm relieved then."

"Why do you think she loves you?"

"Oh, she told me, I think. She has weird ways to do that..."

"That way."

"Oh yes, _that_ way. There, at least, is no doubt."

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Did she tell you about 'everything' then? Quote everything unquote," she clarified.

"The 'everything' you wanted?" Hachiman guessed. "The aquarium?"

"So she did tell you."

"No, we talked about it earlier. In the kitchen."

"So you remember. I wanted to make you my boyfriend while keeping her as a friend. That's what Yukinon understood. What did you understand, Hikki?"

"Something like that, yes. But that interpretation doesn't make sense anymore, right? As 'everything...'"

"Go on..."

"I think I get you now. But back then you didn't want to be understood, right?"

She leaned against him for a few heartbeats. "You're smart, Hikki. You both are. It's scary. I need to be more careful when playing these games. Slipping things in."

He turned his face to her. "May I ask you something? How long have you been in..."

"Oh, since before I joined the club, you know. Since the accident. You didn't know?"

"No, with Yukino, I mean."

She looked at him. "So you don't think I throw around the word too casually?"

He looked away again. "I guess you honestly use that word like you think that word should be used."

"Fair enough."

"I can't look into your head, though."

"No. Anyway, your question. I'm not sure. Remember when we both were crying together? After you asked for our help? That was when I knew. But it happened earlier, I think. What did Yukinon tell you exactly, by the way? That 'let's all be friends'..."

"She asked me to help her save the club. A new code of conduct..."

"The 'rules' you mean?"

"Yes. Rules."

"Can we talk about Yukinon and you for a second?"

"Can we not talk about Yukino and me?"

"Okay. Can we instead talk about you and me then? It's that why she's now taking a bath? So we can talk about you and me?"

"That's kinda what she said..." he admitted.

"Well then, Hikki, I have a question."

"Yes," he encouraged her.

"What exactly am I to you?"

The following wouldn't become easy, he feared. "What exactly…"

"Am I a friend?"

"Surely."

"Like Zaimokuza? He's also your friend."

"More than a friend."

"Like Komachi then? Komachi is also more than a friend."

"No, I don't see you like a sister, if you mean that. A different 'more than a friend'."

"Does it feel bad being loved by me?"

"It had been better for the club..."

"I'm not asking if you _think_ it had been better for the _club._ Does it _feel_ bad? Or good?"

Her questions were getting harder and he'd rather avoid telling lies. "It doesn't feel bad."

"But it's bad for the club, hm? What is so important about the club?"

Hard.

"Say if I find somebody else..." Yui went on.

"Yukino, you mean."

"No, let's say not Yukinon. Not taking away Yukinon from you. Somebody else. You'd still have Yukinon. But not the club. Would that be okay with you?"

"Hypothetically..."

"Of course hypothetically," Yui insisted. "I love you Hikki. Or are you trying to say, but that would be a really mean thing to say, Hikki,..."

Suddenly her voice seemed to freeze over.

"... a girl like me couldn't simply find somebody else if she really wanted. In a heartbeat."

He slowly turned his head around. He didn't know what exactly he had expected to find there. All there was was the familiar face of Yuigahama Yui, smiling warmly at him.

"That... wouldn't be my business, would it."

"Hikki."

And harder. He looked at his hands. "No. I wouldn't like it," he answered after a few seconds.

She slowly stood up and kneeled back on the couch again, her knees left and right of him. The same pose she had assumed with Yukino. A long time ago. Just hours and two kisses.

"Hikki, please help me to understand what's in your head."

It was painfully obvious that she wasn't wearing a bra under that T-shirt.

"So what am I to you? More than a friend, not like a sister, doesn't feel bad to be loved by, and you don't want to lose her to anybody? If I could look into your head, how would _I_ call what _I_ see there? In simple words?"

He avoided her gaze. "I understand you, Yui."

Was exactly _was_ she wearing under that oversized T-shirt?

"What do you understand, Hikki? If you understand it, then say it! _Say it!_ "

"You would say..." he began, then lifted his head and looked her into the eyes. "I love you, Yuigahama Yui."

He went forward to let his lips meet hers halfway. She deserved it, having worked so hard, leaving him almost nothing to do.

o o o

I'm really sorry about that first kiss. Have we fixed it now? Will you make some nice memories before everything comes to an end? Or should I say we? Oh, I think it's certainly we, because...

... she smelled so nice.

And she felt so nice.

o o o

"Hikki?" Yui mumbled in his lap.

"Yes?"

"No, don't stop stroking my hair. Do you want to know where Yukinon can shove her rules?"

"Spare me."

"Hikki, do you want to make Yukinon happy? Do you want to save the club? Then there's something I need to get. From Yukinon. Can you help me getting it?"

"What is it?"

"You haven't figured it out yet? Everything, of course. Everything."

Author's Notes

What's going on here? I have no idea. I'm just the author.

I promised some lengthy notes after the 9th chapter. Now while editing, I decided to split the chapter in two, 9 and 10. So the notes will come after the 10th. The 10th chapter will be the last.


	9. Chapter 9 - Offer

**Chapter 9: Offer**

Yui and Hachiman were eating snacks and chatting when Yukino returned from the bath...

"... she laughed so hard, she spit her tea all over the table. The part that didn't come foaming from her nose, that is," Yui recounted.

"This table? Our Yukino?"

"Really."

… and were sharing less than flattering stories about her. At the very least, for the first time on this evening, an ordinary scene...

"You know Hikki, When Yukino laughs, she looks the most beautiful. Even with tea coming from her nose."

... almost. But maybe they were getting there.

Yui's head went up. "Yukinon, we were waiting for you." She hold up a deck of cards. "Do you want to play Old Geezer with us?"

Yukino's deck of cards, of course. Yui knew where she was storing them and had apparently just taken them out without asking. Oh well. She agreed.

"Did she finally stop trying to hook us up?" Yukino asked Hachiman.

"She made no more self-sacrificial moves."

"Good." Some peace. A quiet ending to the evening. Enough stability and harmony to delay solving the remaining problems until Monday.

Yui was humming a tune while looking at the cards until she finally took one out and put on the table, face down.

"Say, Yui," Yukino asked puzzled, "isn't it the point of this variant of Old Maid that nobody knows the card that is the joker?"

"The fun is," Yui answered, "to look at my face and try find out which card it is. And the next round somebody else will know the card."

She shuffled the deck and dealt the cards.

Yukino looked at hers and took out matching pairs. The two red aces, the two black fives...

The game started. Cards changed their owners, and sometimes were paired up and left the game.

"Hikki, you haven't forgotten to call Komachi? It's getting late, you can just sleep on the couch here," Yukino offered.

"Wait Yukinon, Hikki will stay over? Then where are I supposed to sleep? I mean, you won't send me home or something?" Yui begged.

Yukino was surprised. "Where you've always been sleeping. In my bed."

"But, you know," Yui gave to think, "that was then. And this is now."

Yukino sighed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Hikki could take one couch and I take the other..." Yui offered.

"No, Yui."

"Well," Hachiman intervened, "you both could take the couches and I'll take the bed..."

"Certainly not."

Hachiman became serious again. "To answer your question: I've called my sister. I told her Yui would be staying over, too."

"Which means what?"

Hachiman raised two fingers. "At least twice the teasing. Less than half the actual suspicions, though."

"That sounds like a beneficial trade-off."

"I've also called my parents already, to be honest," Yui confessed. "I didn't tell them about Hikki, of course."

"Well, it's certainly easier between two girls," Hachiman stated.

"But Hikki, I'm such a nice girl,"Yui replied.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, we could probably have a sleepover at my place. And my mom would say 'Hachiman is your friend, Yui. You can't let him sleep on the floor. You can share a bed.'"

Hachiman smiled the faintest of smiles. "That's what she would say? You think so?"

Yui nodded. "Because my mom knows I'm a proper girl."

Yukino looked back and forth between the two.

"You mean, I would have nothing to fear?"

"Well, Hikki, I _might_ be hiding a dark side. I might try to exploit your, eh, innocent naïveté." She started twirling an imaginary mustache.

"I might scream, then."

"Nobody might hear you."

"Stop that," Yukino demanded.

"Yes, it might be time for Princess Yukino to arrive on her white horse to protect my honor," Hachiman deadpanned, giving her an inviting look.

"She might be on my side. Then you'd really be in trouble," Yui went on. "Or," she further gave to think, "this might all be a ploy. We capture Princess Yukino and drag her to our dungeon."

"To do unspeakable things to her? She might have an opinion about that..." Again an inviting look. This time more on the begging side.

"Hikigaya Hachiman," Yukino hissed, "you want to take a bath. Now."

"Whatever you want to say, can't you do that in my presence? And then we all talk about it?" he asked. "This game has become ridiculous a while ago. And the water might be cold by now."

"Shower," she just snapped.

"Also, don't understand this as a personal affront but the scent of your body shampoo might not be fitting for..."

"Cupboard. Right hand side. Drawer at the top. Soap."

Hachiman looked at Yui who just nodded.

He stood up. "You know what we've agreed on, Yui."

She looked a bit annoyed. "Of course, Hikki."

"And don't expect me to take an hour to find the bath. You have 20 minutes until I'm back. At max."

o o o

"What are you trying to achieve here?"

"Oh Yukinon, we were just bantering. You always do that too."

"Certainly not that way. Also... your clothing."

"What's about it?"

"You could at least wear a bra."

"Why? Yukinon, I'm wearing what I'm always wearing after a bath here. More or less."

To be exact, it was definitely less, and not more. But that didn't need to concern Yukino, Yui had decided.

"Yui. Don't play stupid. I'm asking you again: What are you trying to achieve here?"

"We should try to minimize the pain, right? That's what you said. Even I am smart enough to see the solution, the obvious solution. We could..."

"Oh, Yui..."

"… have everything, you know?"

Yukino slowly shook her head. "Yui, that would never work out."

"I think Hikki would like it."

"Oh, color me surprised. Say, Yui, are we playing a power game here?"

"I don't understand, Yukinon. Could you just say what you mean?"

"I thought I did. Are you and Hikki trying to blackmail me into something? It's either three or two plus one with the one being me?"

Yui was shocked. "What's up with you? Hikki was also like 'We won't try to put pressure on her. Or blackmail her.' What are you thinking? I love you. I would never do that. Why are you _still_ so, so…"

"Yui, I think you're an angel."

Yui blushed. "Yukinon..."

"If only by the standards other people in the club are setting."

"Hm."

"So I can just say 'no' then." Yukino stated.

"Hikki said we're gonna leave the decision to you."

"Leave it, hm. Hikki is really nice, isn't he."

"If you say no," Yui began to explain, "we're gonna stay until you call it a night. Hikki will escort me home and then go home by himself."

"And then?"

"Monday, we three will meet in the club. And we will be doing it your way. The rules, right. We will be best friends forever. And we'll have all the fun stuff, we were talking about. The park today, I'm so sorry, we have to do that again. And then I won't be ill, I promise. Or karaoke. Shopping. The aquarium again,..."

"Yui, are those your words?"

She squirmed a bit. "As I said, Hikki was concerned that you might understand it wrong."

"I see. And that's it?"

"Well, every now and then I will remind you, that there is a better way. Every now and then. In time though, I might just forget about it." She looked sad. "Maybe I will forget about it very quickly."

"And..."

"And if you don't want to make a decision immediately," Yui hurried to continue, "then we'll do the same for now. But on Monday, I want an answer from you. Or Tuesday, or Wednesday. Just don't expect me to wait forever."

"And if I let you two stay over tonight?"

"Then..."

"Stop!" Yukino demanded. "One question: Are the following your words?"

"Those are my words," Yui insisted.

"I'm sorry. Go on."

"Then we'll still meet in the club on Monday. But we won't be just friends. Nothing much will change at first. Well, there are some words I want to hear from you, in plain Japanese, for once. And not only once. And, the kisses, I'm very clumsy, you know, so we might never get them right. There might always be the need to fix them. That wouldn't be so easy, I know. People tend to come to the club without knocking."

"That's..."

"And we would do the fun things too, of course, the karaoke and what not."

"That's a really nice dream of a puppy love romance, Yui, a somewhat unusual one, granted. But we aren't grade schoolers anymore."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I said 'at first'. Well, it's not that I have discussed this with Hikki already, but of course… We would do all the fun things. But you know, sooner or later, maybe sooner, I would also want to do, you know: The. Fun. Things." She put on an innocent smile. "Fun things are fun."

Yukino smiled back. "You know Yui, you're not so..."

"Shhhhh..." Yui put a finger to Yukino's mouth. "I don't know what you wanted to say but I bet you didn't say it in the Himalayas."

"But I told you that there are things you want to do in reality and there a things you only want to dream about."

"There are things you don't want to do and there are things you don't dare to do," Yui retorted. Then softer: "Yukinon, just think about it. Tell us when you want us to go home. You don't have to decide this now."

Yukino contemplated, then sighed. "I fought hard for my freedom, Yui. I don't want to be captured again so soon."

Yui looked very sad. "I understand. Then, please don't be angry now. I will never do this again. Or say this again." She then kissed Yukino. Yukino didn't resist.

"I love you, Yukinon," Yui whispered, as if somebody might overhear.

She then leaned back in her seat and stayed silent.

Author's Notes

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo….

If you want to read the final chapter then send me one million euros in bit coins. Or just wait for about 24 hours.


	10. Chapter 10 - Three Fall

**Chapter 10: Three Fall**

Hachiman reappeared, rubbing his hair with a towel. He exchanged a glance with Yui. She slowly shook her head. He nodded.

"I hope," he addressed Yukino, "you didn't hurt her more than necessary."

"Sit down," Yukino just answered, "let's finish that round, shall we."

They continued to play in silence until finally Yui drew Yukino's second but last card and dropped the final pair.

Yukino looked at the final card again. She smiled. "Oh, so very subtle, Yui."

She hold on to that card so a curious Hachiman instead grabbed the one Yui had taken out before the game.

It was the three of diamonds.

"Hikki," Yukino spoke up.

"Hm?"

"What were the unspeakable things Yui and you did to Princess Yukino in that dungeon?"

He looked uncomfortable. "I can't tell you," he finally answered. "If I could they wouldn't be unspeakable, correct?"

"I see your point."

"Thank you."

"Maybe... you could show me at some point then? Sooner or later? Maybe sooner?"

She was almost knocked over as Yui threw herself against her and hugged her.

Hachiman just stared at Yukino.

"Are you happy now?" Yukino asked Yui.

Yui nodded fiercely.

"I told you that your happiness is most important, didn't I?"

"But you still have strange ways to say some things, you know?" Yui mumbled.

"I am sorry. Can I try again?" She looked at Hachiman. "You and Yui asked me a question. The answer is yes. I'd love to be your girlfriend." Why were her eyes getting wet? She blinked a few times. "Very much so."

She turned to Yui again. "Is that better?"

"Much better."

"Then say it."

Yui's voice trembled as she spoke. "Hikki, Yukinon, I love you so much… I'd be so happy to be your girlfriend."

"The service club," Yukino answered, "accepts your request."

Hachiman had found his voice again. He looked at Yui. "What did I tell you? Don't..."

"She didn't blackmail me. She didn't put pressure on me," Yukino interrupted him. "Is it that what you wanted to know?"

"I told you it would make her happy!" Yui added. "I told you!"

Hachiman now looked at Yukino. "Haven't I made myself understood at all..."

Yukino interrupted him again. "I understood you very well. I am sure. You said it was my decision. So I made a decision."

If Hachiman hadn't been engaged in a staring contest with Yukino at that moment he might have noticed Yui's broad smile getting a little broader for a fraction of a second.

"Your solution to our problems is unusual," Yukino went on, "but it admittedly has a certain charm to it."

She paused. "To get my freedom, I had to give something up. Maybe it's now time to take it back." She looked at Yui. "With lots of interest."

"Yukino," Hachiman pleaded, "we will crash so hard. What about Yui?"

"Hikki, you're always so gloomy," Yui threw in. "We will not crash."

"Yui will be happy." Yukino demonstratively wrapped an arm around her and drew her closer. "I'll see to that. And you, at least try to act as if it could work. You promised, remember?"

"What happened to that net?" Hachiman tried.

"Oh, I think you told Yui to burn it. To keep us warm. In the Himalayas."

"In the Himalayas..."

Yui smiled broadly and collected the cards. "Another round?"

Yukino shook her head. "No, Yui. I want to tell you and Hikki a story instead. Well, you know it already. I might have to add some pieces so you won't get bored." She closed her eyes. "So we went hiking. The three of us. In the Himalayas, perhaps..."

THE END (for now)

Author's Notes

WTF, dark ending, the author trolled us. Best ending ever. If you think so, please do yourself a favor and don't read the Author's Notes Extra Long Edition in the following chapter. Also don't read the following little epilogue. I wrote it while editing the story, and changed a few things to make it fit in. It's still not porn! It will put more awkward into your awkward though.

 **Epilogue**

"Hikki," Yui asked as she and Yukino broke a kiss. "I like these stories. Do you have a nice story to tell too, maybe? Maybe you also had a nice dream every now and then?"

He winced. "Well..."

"No," Yukino interrupted. "It's really getting late. let's call it a night."

"Sure," Hachiman answered, very much relieved. "Could you spare me a blanket then?" He gave Yukino a glare. "I will try to find a solution to this mess until tomorrow. Don't expect me to get much sleep."

"I can see that happening." She turned to Yui. "Yui, you remember your first sleepover? The quality of the couches?"

There was no reply for a few seconds. "Yukinon," Yui finally answered slowly, "I get you. I hope this is not another stress test for the club? Because if it's just that, tell me, and let's just pretend you didn't ask that."

Yukino just kept looking at her.

"Because otherwise you would get an answer from me now," Yui went on.

"It's your decision," Yukino replied. "It _really_ is. Maybe you've just changed your mind. Think about it. It can't hurt to find a blanket..." She attempted to rise.

But Yui suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Hikki," she then said, her face red, "this couch. It's really uncomfortable. And short. One couldn't possibly sleep there. But you know, Yukinon's bed is really big. Like a double bed. Two people can easily keep their distance."

"They could. If they wanted to, that is," Yukino chipped in, still looking at Yui.

"If they wanted they could," Yui agreed.

"Two people," Hachiman echoed.

"Three people, I'm afraid," Yukino responded, "might touch a little. Just a little."

"Hey," Hachiman demanded. " _Look_ at me."

Yukino turned towards him.

He actually looked a little... scared.

Good.

"This has long ended to be a game. Or a joke. Or a contest. Or whatever it was. Are you sure you would be comfortable with that?"

Yukino and Yui exchanged another glance. "Yes," Yukino said in a very serious tone, "we are sure." Yui just nodded emphatically.

"Yukino," Hachiman asked, "could you come sit here for a second."

Yukino shrugged and switched couches. She gave Hachiman a quick kiss before sitting down.

"I just want to know if we're on the same page. We took a wrong turn somewhere. Where exactly?"

"You can't take wrong turns when you're in free fall."

"You can criticize metaphors to avoid an issue though."

"You are right. I don't blame anyone in particular."

Hachiman took a deep breath. "I love you, Yukino. Yui had a working definition for that word. I've decided to adopt it."

"We have a working definition for love now, hm? By Yui, nonetheless."

"It's a good definition. It fits. I'm sure you will like it. I just needed to say it. Before..."

"Hikki, I have no doubt the bed will be nice and warm in any case, does that shock you? My only fear is that it's outside where we might still freeze to death."

"Yukinon," Yui said, "don't you start becoming gloomy too. I'll make a fire to keep the room warm."

"You were always trying your hardest to keep the room warm, Yui, but that wasn't enough. But maybe you can teach us?"

"So maybe we agree, Yukino?" Hachiman asked. "We will crash so hard. This will never work out. I said it before, when less was at stake."

"You could have stopped it at any point. You could stop it now."

"Could I? And, you know, I'm not a schemer..."

She laughed. "You can be funny if you want to."

"A schemer with _some_ standards, at least. But I'm also not a robot. Just a man."

"That's what I wanted to hear." She leaned against him. "It feels nice being in free fall. Let us fall a little deeper and just don't think about the crash anymore for tonight. We can think about it tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow." She straightened herself. "And we are the service club. Who, if not we, would be able to solve this problem?"

Suddenly two arms wrapped themselves around them from behind. "Yukinon, Hikki," Yui said, "listen to me for once. We will not crash."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. We just need to figure out how to fly, that's all."

Yukino gave Hachiman another kiss. "You heard her." Then she whispered something into his ear. Not that it mattered, as close as Yui was.

"Make me fly tonight."

THE END (for real?)

Author's Notes, the Second

A long file to follow. I put in everything one might want to know including things that are hopefully totally clear.


	11. Author's Notes

**Author's Notes**

I wrote this story mainly for myself and didn't plan to publish it at first. If you liked it then I'm glad I did it after all. Also, deciding to publish it forced me to do the final editing. I apologize to all native speakers of English. It's obviously not my native language. Everybody else hopefully didn't care that much.

This text has next to no editing. I just hacked it down. If you encounter a grave mistake that changes the meaning of a sentence like a missing "not", a "Yui" where it should read "Yukino", or a "he" where it should be "she", for example, then you're doing Kami-sama's work by sending me a PM. I'll correct that.

The story relies on the anime. I haven't read the light novels nor am I planing to. I consider the story as told in the anime as a story in itself and not as a glimpse into some deeper truth that are the light novels.

In a similar vein, all that is needed to interpret my story is in the story. These notes are merely an offer to the curious or clueless. If you come to other conclusions about what is told in the ten chapters you've just read then your interpretation is as valid as mine!

 **Background: When is this happening, and how did the club develop until then.**

The story is set after the anime and at a point when Yukino's family problems have been solved. This is mentioned in chapter 4 and 5. So this is a continuation fic and if you want to take the light novels into account it probably will become AU once the 12th volume comes out in mere _hours_ from now (on the Sep. 20th). We never learn how exactly the family issues were solved. It can't have been catastrophic on all sides because Yukino still has her apartment. Her relationship with her sister in particular is poisoned however.

After that, Yukino now extremely values her independence and hates the idea of being manipulated in any form. She even gave up on Hachiman because she feels her sister was trying to scheme her into that relationship. She says so in chapter 5. Yui says she's stupid beyond belief. Yui might have a point.

Hachiman is now looking for the realest of real things (many translations use "genuine", I stick with "real"). That was always true love, as the viewer and the girls understood before him. But he now goes to such extremes saying that if you make a conscious choice it cannot be true love. He explains that in chapter 3. Yukino thinks he just chickened out and doesn't quite know if she should be glad or sad about it (chapter 4). Yui completely misunderstands him.

Both Yukino and Hachiman notice the halt of romantic development but haven't questioned each other's motives until now. In some ways they are closer than ever but then again not that close or what happens in chapter 7 wouldn't happen as it happens.

Yui is not in on this "arrangement" or doesn't believe it will hold. Every time she comes to the club she probably fears that this would be the moment where the two others make their relationship official. However, she probably sees no chance to win Hachiman and, more importantly, doesn't want to hurt Yukino she's secretly in love with too. She suffers under the stalemate.

The relationship between Yukino and Yui is as close as ever, probably closer. Hachiman and Yui don't interact that much in the story and when they do one of them or both follow a plan. So we cannot really tell how their relationship is at this point. He cares for her and doesn't want her to suffer (if possible). At the very least because she's important to Yukino but probably not only because of that. In any case, it's probably safe to say that their bond is the weakest of the three.

In the following I'll be using BFF (best friends forever), Yuki/Hachi, Yuki/Yui, Yui/Hachi and OT3 (one true threesome) for the five possible routes.

The following chapter sections _WILL_ contain grave spoilers for later chapters. Don't read the story and the notes in parallel.

 **Chapter 1**

We learn, in a somewhat indirect way, that the following has happened:

\- Yui has won three tickets in a tombola. That's at least what she claimed. Yukino and Hachiman doubt it. We're not being told what exactly these tickets are for and it doesn't matter. Later in the story a park is mentioned.

\- Yui suddenly excuses herself as sick. So it's only Hachiman and Yui who go.

\- Hachiman got a love letter, seemingly from Yukino and most likely on the evening of the day before (Friday) and not much earlier.

\- An embarrassing situation follows in which Hachiman rejects Yukino. This important bit is revealed in chapter 2.

\- After some confusion Hachiman shows Yukino the letter. She tells him that it's fake.

\- They figure out that Yui must have written the letter and will now confront her.

Discussing Yui's period is mainly to show that Yui and Yukino also Yukino and Hachiman are close. And to prepare the reader for more very roundabout/indirect talk to come.

It's already somewhat hinted at the fact that there is no romantic development anymore and that both seem to be content with that.

At the end Yukino says something that Hachiman understands as a request to save the friendship of Yui and Yukino at all cost.

 **Chapter 2**

What Yui is doing here and why is hinted at in chapter 4 and fully explained in chapter 5. Hachiman pulling a Hachiman is explained in chapter 3 to 5.

Basically, Yui... -

wants to stir things up because she's suffering under the deadlocked situation.

\- doesn't care if they find out. If they're angry at her, the better.

\- isn't overly concerned about the rejection. She thinks as long as she's making enough waves and then leaves the scene for a while, things will naturally follow the Yuki/Hachi route.

Yukino mentions for the first time her aversion against being manipulated.

What exactly is "not that simple" in Yukino's relationship with Hachiman? After what we will learn in chapter 5 one could probably say that she thinks that as she could consciously decide to put a stop to Yuki/Hachi so easily (even if she suffers under it) it might not be the real thing(TM) for her either. Or maybe she has feelings for Yui that go beyond merely fantasizing about her. Or something else, your call. What she's not is merely tsundere-ing around. It's not that shallow.

Yui confesses her love for Hachiman to put that topic off the table. She thinks that if she's not at least that honest the other two will simply assume a plot to get the Yui/Hachi ending.

Hachiman acts as he sees the situation deteriorate. He pulls a Hachiman insofar as he tries to resolve a situation by making himself look like an asshole. He "turns it to 11" as Yui says in chapter 5 because he knows the two know him and will probably look through it but that is OK as long as it works (as he says in chapter 4).

Yui can be a bit more subtle because Yukino and Hachiman don't except such a move from her anyway.

Because Yui was pulling her own Hachiman at that moment she immediately understands what he is doing (when she squeezes Yukino's arm to calm her down). Yukino, though certainly smarter (albeit not street-smart), needs a few seconds more.

 **Chapter 3**

After the kiss Yui raises the stakes and Hachiman folds. This is discussed in chapter 5 again.

The "epiphany" Yukino is having is that Yui has been playing her own game all along. Yui is "a bit hypocritical" (as Yukino puts it in chapter 4) as she condemns Hachiman for doing his maneuver within the club. Yui later (chapter 5) defends herself with his and her plot not being comparable in their severity.

We don't know when Hachiman understands Yui's game. It can't be much earlier because otherwise he would just have spoken it out in chapter 2 instead of doing what he did.

Chaos ensues. Yui tries to run away to save Yuki/Hachi and Hachiman tries to run away to save Yuki/Yui (in terms of friendship). Yukino hasn't fully grasped the situation yet but manages to blackmail both to stay by saying if one of them goes everything will be over.

Yui has realized that her plan has backfired hard and runs around like a headless chicken as Yukino puts it in chapter 5, trying this and that. Yui explains in the same chapter that demanding a kiss from Hachiman was part plot, part real.

Hachiman explains his philosophy at this point mainly so Yui won't put any more pressure on Yukino as Yukino says in chapter 4.

Here we have the first critical misunderstanding. He talks about consciously choosing at all. Yukino correctly concludes in chapter 4 that if he's serious about that then love at first sight is his only option for something "real". But she also says in that chapter that he's probably just rationalizing his chickening out. Note that he looks at Yukino when he formally explains that to Yui. If he would choose then what his choice would be is most likely clear at that point. Or is it? Your call.

Yui however understands he's torn between her and Yukino. The first OT3 flag she sees. She indirectly tells him "why not both" but he doesn't understand because they're not on the same page. Neither does Yukino, or does she?

The next misunderstanding is when Yukino says that her relationship with Yui is not that simple either. She probably hints at her lust (or love?) for Yui. Now Yui thinks that Yukino figured out her own secret and consequently reads "Don't throw around the word love." as "I know exactly how you mean that but I don't take it seriously." Challenge accepted. Kiss follows.

Hachiman thinks Yui has now gone full Hachiman, copying his kiss from before. That's why he asks her to find a different "role model". There might be some truth to it as Yui will admit in chapter 5.

Is Yukino hiding in the loo for 15 minutes, because of feelings in turmoil? She at least repeatedly claims she took the time to process WTF has happened so far. She also comes up with her idea for the "rules" (as she says in chapter 7), that is going the BFF route and strengthening the platonic relationship between the three. But she also entertains the idea of Yuki/Hachi after Yui practically begged her to go that route.

 **Chapter 4**

Kitchen talk between Hachiman and Yukino. Yui now has time alone to let sink in what has happened thanks to her and she slides into a depressive state.

Here we see again that the new Yukino is very adamant in guarding her independence. "The one who kicks people out of _my_ apartment is _me_." We also learn that she's not "squeamish" when it comes to sex before she explicitly tells us so. Hachiman indirectly tells her "My sister will think we fuck." and she's like "So what. We have a situation here."

Yukino says again that she hates being manipulated. It is hinted that Hachiman and Yukino agree that Yui was pulling a Hachiman maneuver on her own. But that will be made explicit only in the next chapter.

The two finally talk about their relationship a bit as Yui wanted them to do. Hachiman guesses correctly that Yukino's change has something to do with Haruno but he doesn't know the details. Finally Hachiman decides to give Yuki/Hachi a chance after all and kisses her. The results are inconclusive but maybe he sees a chance despite her pushing for BFF now. She's an "aggressive kisser" after all. But this might just be a sign that _when_ Yukino decides to go in she _really_ goes in.

They finally settle for 'Yukino' and 'Hikki' instead of Yukinoshita(-san) and Hikigaya(-kun). That was apparently the single most OOC I did? I personally see no problem with that. Yukino is very familiar with that address and she wants to tease him a bit with it.

Hachiman goes shopping and then a few times around the block. He has time to think about the kiss and the choices he made (or better: not made) in life. Since this is Romance/Drama he of course comes to the conclusion that a girlfriend, especially Yukino, wouldn't be so bad after all instead of staying celibate while chasing after his pie in the sky. It would be a stretch to say that he's suddenly madly in love with her (especially by his own very high standards) as he rejected her before and was willing to walk away to save Yuki/Yui. Still, he will push for it when he's back.

"Aftermath" might refer to what has happened in chapter 2 and 3 or the end of the romantic development along the Yuki/Hachi route after the Haruno incident.

 **Chapter 5**

The first part is our unofficial "recap episode". Yukino and Yui discuss what happened in detail in chapter 2 and 3, and why.

Yui again seems to misunderstand that Hachiman is "torn between two girls". Yukino could correct her but misses the chance.

Yukino explains a bit about the background and why the romantic development between her and Hachiman has stopped. First, she fears she might just enter another dependent relationship. Second, she feels she would just follow what her sister had planned for her – thereby still not breaking free from her family's grip. Both are legitimate concerns in my humble opinion. The consequence she's drawn however … well, Yui thinks it's stupid beyond measure.

The relationship between her and her sister seems to be irreparably poisoned at the moment. Yukino hates Haruno for making her choose between Hachiman and her independence from Haruno, as she sees it. Of course, Haruno might have a completely different story to tell if we could ask her.

In any case, we see Yukino can make extreme decisions now if she feels manipulated.

We get another glimpse into Yukino's stance on sex. She isn't a very romantic girl and doesn't think of boyfriends in terms of sparkles and bubbles. A boyfriend is somebody you have sex with especially when "you're close already" There, at least lies a factual error: she and Hachiman aren't that close or what will happen in chapter 7 wouldn't have happened. She just has no real way to compare. In any case, this shows us again that when she goes in she really goes in.

Now, we learn in a roundabout way what Yui's "everything" means: A polyamorous relationship. According to her this was more a daydream, she explicitly compares it to waiting for the (literal) prince on a (literal) white horse. Is she telling the truth or downplaying it? Your call.

The chapter ends with Yui's breakdown. This is where Yukino decides that Yui's happiness will come first. Since she's already given up on Hachiman and apparently he on her this doesn't even look like a big sacrifice to her. She will call her "Yui" from now on.

 **Chapter 6**

Yukino tries to convince Yui that she considers her to be as important as Hachiman if not more. She makes a few attempts to explain that she's also sexually attracted to Yui, probably to challenge that "Love outweighs friendship" argument coming from Yui. Yui however doesn't get it. Yukino finally lets her in on that Himalaya (or Antarctica or North Pole) fantasy she had. She emphasizes that it's a different type of dream about a different type of everything. Namely, not a romantic daydream about a polyamorous relationship but a sexual fantasy about threesome sex. Big difference.

Yukino tells Yui several times that this is not something she wants for real. But … well. Is she really that naive and clumsy in doing "girl talk" or is this a test balloon for OT3? Your call.

Yui has seen enough OT3 flags now. And since she couldn't sell Yuki/Hachi to Yukino she has now decided to earnestly push for that route. Or she will decide so in the bath.

 **Chapter 7**

This is probably the chapter with the most stuff happening under the surface. Hachiman returns and has made up his mind to go Yuki/Hachi. He even might think that Yui cried because Yukino told her she would go the Yuki/Hachi route by herself? He drops just a few hints but Yukino seems to understand what he wants.

Alas, Yukino is meanwhile more determined than ever that this will not happen and tells him so (in the roundabout way everything is told in this chapter).

Hachiman is not _that_ concerned about Yui. The last Yui he saw was the out-of-control Yui of chapter 2 and 3. For Yukino this is mainly forgotten. The Yui in her mind is the bawling, suffering Yui of chapter 5 and 6. She can tell him but he won't feel it. So they're simply not on the same page. He cares for Yui but there is no way that he will accept closing the Yuki/Hachi route officially after he's made up his mind just because Yui had a bad day. That's why he's against the BFF route.

Now, Yukino can't allow him make serious moves along the Yuki/Hachi route. No matter how she would react to it it wouldn't give the club the harmony it needs to give Yui her peace of mind.

So she decides to show Hachiman the torture instruments. First, she tells him that Yuki/Yui has become a real possibility. Is she telling the truth? Or exaggerating? Your call. Then she tells him that Yui/Hachi won't fly anyway. She actually indirectly tells him 4 things:

1\. Yui/Hachi is dead in the water.

2\. I can pull Yuki/Yui if I want to.

3\. I can pull Yuki/Hachi if I want to.

4\. Who's the boss now?

This is the critical point of the power shift in which Yukino installs herself as apex of the love triangle.

Hachiman understands the message and calls out her BS. "Nobody is in control" = "Yukino is in control". "We have to rely on each other." = "Hachiman has to rely on Yukino." One might add: "The playing field has been leveled" = "Yukino is playing downhill, Hachiman is playing uphill."

Yukino's thinly veiled threat is: If Hachiman pushes too hard for Yuki/Hachi then the result may be Yuki/Yui.

Suddenly Hachiman is all interested in making the BFF route explicit and Yukino is against it. Why is that?

Yukino fears he just wants to neutralize Yui as she told him Yui would accept the agreement (her own miscalculation as we will see in the next chapter). With the Yuki/Yui route closed Hachiman could continue to push for Yuki/Hachi.

Hachiman fears Yukino wants to keep her options open and that Yuki/Hachi might even already have become a distant third possibility after BFF on first place and Yuki/Yui on second place. Or worse, after Yuki/Yui on first place and BFF on second.

That's the nicest interpretation. They're both playing defensively out of fear. But one of them or both might even be right in their suspicions about the other. Your call.

Trust has completely broken down when Hachiman accuses Yukino of having used the kiss to "level the playing field" (which, as said above, doesn't mean leveling at all but strengthening the own position) and Yukino accuses Hachiman of the same ("Is that an act of self-inspection?"). Meaning: they think the kiss was used to keep a route open, nothing more.

All that doesn't set well with Hachiman of course. Not only is he now under threat to become the odd one out after all. He, who liked to solve problems on his own with minimal if any consultation in the club has been relegated to a mere assistant in solving this problem. Meaning he would need to trust somebody who's not himself.

But in the end, is he really determined to try and save the club even if that means going the BFF route (and blocking Yuki/Yui of course)? Or does he still want to go Yuki/Hachi? Your call. In any case he doesn't really believe BFF would work.

Despite all the mistrust, in the bath Yukino finally admits she loves Hachiman (Or Yui? Or both? Your call.) and apologizes for having to go BFF.

Yui has taken up all her courage and will now aggressively push for OT3. First step: convincing (seducing) Hachiman. That's the whole plan. She isn't good with plans.

 **Chapter 8**

So, Yui is gunning for OT3. What's Hachiman's cunning scheme? He doesn't have much of a plan at that moment. He needs to convince Yui of the BFF route. Also, he would need to strengthen the Hachi/Yui angle somehow to improve his position in the love triangle. But neither is so urgent that it needs to be achieved on this fateful evening. And to his surprise, Yui actually dismisses the BFF route rightaway as more or less the same stuff they had before. Meaning, she doesn't trust the truce to hold either.

Yui then telling him that Yukino loves her (Which is probably what she understood. Or is she exaggerating? Or even right? Your call.) surely activates some more alarm bells in his brain even if this info is yet unconfirmed.

But then Yui tells him about 'everything' and he immediately understands she's willing to go down the OT3 route. He probably just thinks she has now added another layer of mad to her mad. But _n_ _ow_ he has a plan. He allows her to seduce him, that's probably the best way to put it, and let her propose OT3.

The rest has been cut off for dramatic reasons but I guess he doesn't say much more then: This is for Yukino to decide, don't blackmail her, and if she says no we'll be going BFF which would mean... and then he tells her more or less what she then tells Yukino about that route. He won't encourage her more than needed when she will get shot down (and hurt) anyway.

Still, he doesn't say "no". Of course Yui must assume he's in for OT3.

So, for the sake of the club Yukino will have to give a definite answer and that will be BFF thereby making BFF explicit as Hachiman wanted. A strategical victory for Hachiman. Yukino won't be going OT3 of course. Why? Because there is no fucking way in hell she'd go OT3, that's why.

And maybe this offer also contains a warning from Hachiman to Yukino: If I really want to, I can still pull Yui/Hachi.

He might have been a bit more cautious if he had known that in Yukino's mind, he and Yui have been hiking the snowy hills of the Himalaya quite often already. And if he had known more details about that critical Yukino/Haruno encounter.

 _Wait, so he doesn't want OT3? But I mean … two girls!_ As I say he sees no way Yukino would agree, so why bother. Also, he's convinced this will end in the worst crash ever. Still, as we see in the end, he's not an asexual entity. He is willing to conveniently forget about his ethics and concerns for a few critical hours if only pushed hard enough.

 _So he's totally using Yui here?_ Yes. It doesn't look that bad in his eyes. She has the chance to make "memories" (of him making out with her and an albeit _very_ roundabout love declaration) before Yukino lets the hammer fall. Isn't that nice? Well, as we know Hachiman has severe problems understanding other people's emotions.

Afterwards, he can block any attempt by Yui with "Remember what we agreed on." and "You don't want to make Yukino unhappy, right?"

If this interpretation is true and he really is a schemer with some standards as he says later on, then I guess he's really pushing for BFF now as Yukino asked him to do and not for Yuki/Hachi. Otherwise he'd give Yui hope, then block her, then do a Yuki/Hachi which would be mean. (Then again, in love and war…) What he wants to do in any case is close the Yuki/Yui route. Well, in the end it's your call again what goes on in his mind.

 **Chapter 9**

After explaining Hachiman's plan in the last section already there's not much to say. Yui is flirting and Hachiman hopes for Yukino to step in. She finally does.

Yukino is suspicious. Her first thought: Hachiman is pushing for OT3 by blackmailing her with Yui/Hachi. Why would he do that? Because _two girls_ , man. Yui asserts that she wouldn't allow that. Yukino believes her.

Yukino then quickly understands that Hachiman is actually pushing for explicit BFF.

Cliffhanger.

Yeah, I had to slip in the _other_ Yui's "Fun things are fun."

 **Chapter 10**

"Old Geezer" as a variant of "Old Maid" is a thing. Yui's rule was probably made up on the spot. And yes, the card that won't get paired up the is three of hearts. Yui is a romantic one, isn't she.

Yes, what Yukino meant at the end of chapter 9 was that she wouldn't follow the path set out by Hachiman, i.e. BFF, and goes for OT3 instead.

I guess both Hachiman and Yukino actually wanted to give BFF a try at the end, with minor ideological differences so to speak. Thanks to mistrust, misunderstandings, miscalculations, and misfiring schemes they end up with OT3. Game, set, and match for Yui.

But contrary to Hachiman, Yukino maybe needed only a little push. And Hachiman delivers pushes in spades, triggering her Haruno-PTSD. What is her message to Hachiman in her mind? Maybe

1\. Fuck you Hikigaya Hachiman, you can't control me!1111

2\. I want Yui to be happy.

3\. I love you.

4\. Did I mention Yui already? She's a cutie.

5\. If Haruno ever finds out she will be pissed.

Well, perhaps not number 5 but I wouldn't put that past her either. But in the end: your call. Also about 1 to 4.

 _Oh,_ _Yui smiles! And she knows the full Haruno story. Does that mean she knew how to deliver the message to make sure Yukino would react the way she wanted?_ Yui is a nice and not very smart girl. You, Sir, are mean and paranoid. Please everybody, move along. There's nothing to see here.

What can Hachiman do now? If he suddenly backpedals the following will happen:

1\. Yui cries.

2\. Yukino is pissed.

3\. Yuri route completed and bye-bye Hachiman.

Of course he can still leave the game but he explicitly promised not to. Also, this wouldn't be Hachiman the Dark Knight as in the beginning when he tried to heroically sacrifice himself for Yuki/Yui. More like Hachiman who leaves because nobody needs him anymore. I don't think he wants that. Also: two girls!

The state of the club?

\- Hachiman: cornered

\- Yukino: triggered

\- Yui: rabu-rabu and heart-shaped pupils. Until the details begin to sink in, I guess.

Is that a romantic conclusion? Certainly not. Hachiman and Yukino schemed themselves into an unwanted situation. This can only end in a crash. Hachiman is the most level-headed one to understand that.

Yukino delivers a final warning: If and when shit starts raining down, I'll stay with Yui.

The epilogue? When Yukino decides to go in she goes in. It will also make it much harder for Hachiman to scheme his way out of this. And Hachiman is no eunuch.

Is there a morale to the story? Maybe "You need to trust your friends because if you don't you might end up having sex with two hot girls at once." Errr...

In any case, I hope we agree that this turned out pretty dark.

But then again, hope springs eternal.

 **ANOTHER EPILOGUE: LEARNING TO FLY**

"Good morning, Hikki."

Yui was sitting in the living room, a cup of coffee in her hands. She was wearing that red T-shirt again. She noticed his glances. "You wonder what I'm wearing under it now."

He just smiled. "You're up already. Yukino?"

"We decided to let you sleep. She's in the shower."

Hachiman gave her a kiss and sat down next to her. "Can I go next? I'd rather be home before my parents come back."

"Back to your sister. To less than half the actual suspicions," Yui teased him.

"That would have been true if they had been unfounded. Komachi is too smart for her own good. And has a frightening intuition."

"Is that a problem?"

"She will keep her mouth shut. Even under torture."

"Hikki," Yui hesitated, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What am I to you?"

He didn't answer immediately.

"A friend with benefits?" Yui helped. "Hopefully not a mere acquaintance with benefits."

"Everything I said yesterday was true. More than a friend. Surely not an acquaintance."

"That 'working definition', hm."

Hachiman was concerned. "Are you having second thoughts? You sounded so confident, yesterday. Yui, I will stand to this."

"I tried to seal the deal. Take what I could."

"You sealed the deal. You haven't even taken a fraction of what you can."

"Yukinon thinks she can pull this through. Avoid the crash."

Hachiman shook his head. "That's impossible, however."

Yui nodded sadly. "Hikki, I am stronger than the both of you think. I can cope."

"What do you want to say?"

"When we crash, please take care of Yukinon."

"Let's just not crash, Yui."

"You said..."

"I said, it's impossible for her to avoid the crash. Only we can. And must."

Nobody talked for a few seconds.

"Maybe we can..." both began in unison. Awkward laughter followed.

"You first," Hachiman decided.

"Maybe we can become very close friends with benefits next?" Yui asked. "And you?"

"Maybe we can try and refine and expand our working definition. You know, I think we should do both."

Yui leaned against him. "Can I tell you a story? It's a family-friendly one, I swear."

"Go ahead."

"Some time in the future. We three are still doing a lot of things together. And sometimes Yukinon can't make it and it's just you and me. Then she's feeling a bit jealous even though she also knows it's nonsense, because she knows you love her and she knows that I love her. And she's also very happy, because..." she paused, "she knows you and I also love each other very much."

"You think this is what will happen regardless?"

"No, it's just a plan. And I think I might make it a..."

"The service club," Hachiman interrupted her, "accepts this request."

THE END (for real)


End file.
